The Day After
by geektime66
Summary: This starts right after the screen went dark in "All Things" And will end around "Requiem". Some will be missing stories and I'll also probably add in some background on the episodes in between! Be nice! Please review! Also if you have an idea for a case but don't write PM me and I will add it in!
1. The day afternight before

Disclaimer: I do not own the X Files I just love the characters.

Note: I don't think I could ever pull off smut so you guys will have to use your imagination when it starts getting more mature. ;) Enjoy though! I am considering keeping it going until Mulder's abduction. I have always wondered what it was like for them behind closed door after they slept together so like or favorite this to show if you care! I might do it anyways….

The day after

Scully was always the practical one. It was rare she let her emotions get involved in her work so the day after her first night with Mulder she was not sure how to act. She had left his place early leaving a note so she could go home and get ready but also so she could have time to digest what had just happened.

 _The night before_

 _She had woken up on Mulder's couch covered by a blanket. She could hear his shower running and saw him nowhere. She cursed herself internally for falling asleep during what she hoped was going to be a good conversation. She stood up and walked over to his bedroom doorway and saw the bathroom door closed with the light on. She thought for a moment about what to do. Her first reaction was to leave right away and call on her way home to thank him but she then remembered all that had happened that day and decided to be brave._

 _"Mulder?" She said bracing herself._

 _"Hey Scully! Did I wake you up?" She heard him from the bathroom._

 _"No my neck was starting to hurt." She said looking at the floor hoping to root herself in the ground so she would not run away._

 _The sound of the shower turning off nearly sent her running out the door but she held herself in place carefully._

 _"I'll be right out. Don't leave!"_

 _Scully was not sure if she should move back to the couch, sit on the edge of his bed, or stay where she was. She could tell from his tone he knew what kind of conversation was going to happen. She paced for a second and decided to stay where she was. She nervously considered that she would have a perfect view of him leaving the bathroom and wondered for a moment if he would come out with a shirt on. This sight which she had seen many times was one that suddenly made her heart beat faster. She felt the blush already coming to her cheeks and cursed softly under her breath._

 _This had been her life the past few months. Random fantasies staring her partner in different compromising situations. The only time she would indulge these thoughts was after work when she was alone and even then she tried to ignore them. These thoughts continued to persist as she listened to him bumping around the bathroom. She wondered if he was nervous too. The feelings growing between them had become obvious but were still yet unspoken._

 _The door opening shook her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see him at the bathroom door drying his hair, shirt on. 'Thank God.' She thought knowing it would make speaking to him easier._

 _"You feel asleep mid thought. I got the feeling I bored you to sleep." He said with a smile as he approached her._

 _She looked down not meeting his eyes, "Yeah sorry… it's been a long day." She looked up when his bare feet entered her field of vision and she found his face close to hers._

 _"I can tell. Do you want to talk more about it?" He said meaningfully. Scully fought the urge to look away and looked strait into his eyes._

 _"If you're up for it I would like that."_

 _"I am always up for talking to you."_

 _He took her elbow and steered her back to the couch._

 _"Beer?" He asked and went to grab one, not waiting for an answer._

 _He returned with two beers in hand he passed one to her and then fell into the couch his arm falling easily around her. She unconsciously snuggled closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder._

 _"All day I found myself following a trail and it all felt wrong and confusing. I told you about the woman who I kept seeing? Well I didn't tell you that I saw her while I was leaving the hospital. I just had this feeling that if I followed her and caught up to her that everything would suddenly make sense and fall into place and so I ran and thought I had caught her but it was you." She said it all carefully knowing that even though it sounded crazy to her that to Mulder it would make sense._

 _"You thought I was a woman?" He interrupted with an obviously teasing smile on his face. She punched him lightly and he held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry, go on."_

 _"Well… I guess that I… I mean after I found you everything seemed to fall into place. The whole day I was looking at what my life might have been and it was a mess. The first truly independent move I made in my life was joining the FIB but and then the first crazy one was joining the X Files but both those choices saved me. Working these cases with you has helped me find who I really am. I think… It sounds strange but I think all this happened to day to show me that when I find the right path, the right person, I will know." She turned her head to look him in the eyes, "And I think I have known for a while."_

 _Mulder moved his hand up to her face and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. "Me too." He said softly and leaned in to kiss her. At first it was soft and sweet similar to their kiss on New Years. But it quickly turned more desperate as seven years of feelings started to pour out. Scully began to lay back on the couch pulling Mulder on top of her as she went. One of Scully's hands dug into Mulder's hair while the other crept up under his shirt. She could feel his body responding as her hand continued to move up his back._

 _Suddenly he pulled away, "Is this a good idea?" He asked stroking her cheek with his thumb._

 _"It's probably the best idea we have ever had." She responded with a smile._

 _"Then let's do it right." He stood up pulling her into his arms smiling. Scully laughed her rare laugh and wrapped her arms around his neck. Next thing she knew he was dumping her on the bed and quickly moving back over her._

Today

Agent Scully paced anxiously back and forth in the basement office and checked her watch for the third time in five minutes. Mulder was a half hour late and though she knew it was probably not true she wondered if he was regretting the night before and panicking. She wondered if she should call him but decided better of it in case he was feeling overwhelmed. She leaned back against his desk and rubbed her forehead. She heard someone coming down the hall and jumped up straightening her shirt. She felt ridiculous for getting so nervous about a man she knew so well and had worked with for so long.

Mulder turned the corner into the room holding a carton with two cups of coffee in one hand, a brown bag and a brief case in the other, and a folder in his mouth. All of Scully's nerves disappeared as she laughed and went to take the folder from his mouth.

"Hey." Mulder said looking at her softly.

"Hey." Scully held back a smile and stood on the tips of her toes planting a small kiss to his lips.


	2. You know I love you

Sorry guys! I have been pretty busy but I managed to get this one out! My muse is being kind of a bitch right now but probably cause of school and work. This one is mostly fluff for fluffs sake but I hope you enjoy! I am hoping to get into the actual cases at this time in the show as well as maybe some of my own. Review please it is what keeps me going!

Disclaimer: I don't own the X Files

I Always Knew

 _The Vaccines_

Down, down in my bones

Somewhere I'd never ever known  
Right at the back of my head  
It hit me like a beam of light  
Hit me like a hook with a right  
And I could have fell to the floor  
'Cause you talk to me  
And it comes off the wall  
You talk to me  
And it goes over my head  
So let's go to bed  
Before you say something real  
Let's go to bed before  
You say how you feel

'Cause it's you  
I always, always knew  
I oh, I always knew  
Oh, it's you

Scully moved out of his way to let him pass and put the breakfast offerings on the desk. After putting them down he turned to face her and moved deftly across the space somehow closing the door to the office and pulling her to him at the same time. They leaned against the door for a few seconds as he kissed her deeply, probably too deeply for the office. They pulled away for breath and he was getting ready to go in again when Scully held up her finger between their lips.

"Mulder we need to have rules." She said carefully. "If not this will get out of control very fast. We already have enough crap to worry about without one of Kersh's goons walking in on us in the basement."

Mulder reluctantly let his arms move away but kept hold of one of her hands possessively. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Mulder said with a slight smile as he led her to her seat. He sat down across the desk from her figuring that some space would make it a bit easier.

Scully opened up the bag to find bagels and some cream cheese (the real kind). She handed a bagel and a cup of cream cheese to Mulder and took her own.

"What took you so long?" She said preparing her breakfast.

"What? Were you nervous I was skipping town?

"No. Well I didn't know if you would feel weird… I don't know it sounds stupid." Mulder gave a small giggle like sound that received a swat to the head and a, "Shut up Mulder!"

Mulder leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head and a sarcastic far off look on his face, "Well you were right to be afraid. I have only stuck around all these years for that night. Now I am outta here. It was a challenge I will admit. Was it worth it some may ask?" He glanced at her, "Yes. Yes it was. But now the time has come." He began to move as if to get up but instead just smiled and ate his food.

"Was that fun? More fun than sex I assume since you are putting your chances of ever having it again on the line with jokes like that." She said eyebrow up and fighting a smile.

The rest of the day was mostly paperwork. Mulder found himself having to justify his trip to England knowing that the expenses would probably end up coming out of his own pocket. By the time lunch rolled around the two had filed away a lot of paperwork and had begun to look into old cases to see if they could find anything interesting. Scully put down a file about a werewolf type creature and declared, "I'm hungry."

Mulder's eyes left the folder he was reading and he smiled up at her. "Let's go eat then."

They went to a diner that they found themselves at from time to time but was far enough away from the office that they were pretty sure they would see no one they would know. They sat opposite from each other in a booth with their feet touching under the table. They had not spoken much since they had gotten there as they were examining the menu and ordering but as soon as the waitress left them Mulder took Scully's hand and looked at her with a very serious expression.

"You know that I am in love with you right? I just felt like I needed to say it." He said stroking her hand with his thumb.

"Wow kind of forward for a first date no?" Scully teased, "Of course I know. And I love you."

"Oh Agent Scully this is not our first date. Our first date is forthcoming and it will kick today's ass. I am going to take you out somewhere so fancy that I will be kicked on to the streets. I'll buy you the most expensive thing on the menu. All I ask is that you dress up. Then I will take you to some pretty park and we can walk around. Then we can do it in a bush."

Scully had been listening with a smile as her heart fluttered but with the last words she laughed out loud.

"Only you can make that sound romantic."

"How is having sex in a public park not romantic?"

"Oh it is romantic for a couple of 16 year olds."

"Well my goal, Dana, is to make you feel 16 again. Well all the good parts of being 16. Sans the lack of privacy, pimples, and 80s hair that is."

When he said her first name her heart skipped a beat. She smiled at him widely and leaned over the booth to lightly press her lips against his.

They finished lunch with talk of their plans for the evening and a retelling of the worst dates they had been on.

"… So when I came back from the bathroom more than half of my food was gone. When I asked him about it he denied it with a strait face and said I must have eaten more than I thought. But it gets better when we were done the waitress asked if we wanted dessert and since I had not eaten a full meal I wanted dessert and so I said yes and looked at the menu and then he asked me if I was sure I wanted to eat more and that maybe I should watch my figure better."

"No way!"

"Yes he really did. So I just asked for the check. Now on dates I don't assume I am not paying for anything I will chip in unless the guy says no and so I was getting ready to do this and he tells me that he considers himself a feminist and was thinking that I could pay for this meal and he would get the next one. That was when I assured him there would not be another date and that I expected him to pay for his part. He seemed a little pissed but did it. When he pulled up in front of my apartment he asked if he could walk me up and I said no. But apparently he did not like that answer and so he went with anyways. When we got to my door he tried to kiss me! And I said no that I had a terrible time and told him not to call again. He then disregarded what I said and asked to come in so I slapped him and slammed the door. He kept calling for a while but eventually gave up. It was the worst. Funny now but after that I considered giving up dating."

"I can't believe you didn't sleep with the poor guy! He tried so hard. Stone cold. That will be a hard date to top but I think I can do it." Mulder smiled at her and then looked at his watch. "Ah time to go back to the ol' grind stone."

They made their way to the car but as soon as they got to the car Mulder grabbed Scully's hand and pulled her into his arms and kissed her with passion.

"Been wanting to do that all day."


	3. No Detours!

Disclaimer: I do not own the X Files or Mulder and Scully.

Note: FYI to any one who is following my story 'The Red Haired Woman' I will be working on it soon but my muse is fickle and this story won't leave me. Thank you!

No Detours!

When they got back to the office Scully decided to pull the files on the old X File that involved the super computer and Esther Narirn. The Gunmen had asked for a run down of the information so they could try to improve some of their systems. It all went over Scully's head but she decided to send them what they had anyways. As she stood by the filing cabinet she felt a pair of arms slide around her waist and a pair of lips make contact with her neck. She rolled her head back for a moment but then was brought back to reality.

"Mulder we are at work." She said sternly as she turned around in his arms and tried to gently push him away.

"Oh come on Scully I locked the door. Don't tell me you have never fantasized about doing it on the desk. I will do that thing where I throw all the stuff on to the floor and we can get it on." He said as he rubbed her back.

Scully blushed and felt warm. Of course she had entertained such thoughts but she knew this was not the time or place.

"Mulder, no" She pulled out of his arms and started toward the computer but she could feel him following her like a lost puppy. She turned to face him, "I told you not at work. We could get in serious trouble and we need to focus on the cases."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Mulder said as he threw himself into his chair. "Your no fun." He then pouted like a five year old.

Scully leaned across the desk, "Just a few more hours." She said as she leaned even more and kissed his head.

She felt him tilt his head up so he could see down her blouse and she just sighed. Just then the phone rang she looked at Mulder to see if he would answer but he was still to busy pouting so she picked up.

Mulder laid his head on his arms resting on the desk and watched her.

"Scully…. Yes, sir I understand but…. The work we do cannot be compared to other departments it just seems unnecessary… I know but… Alright sir I will tell him." She sighed and hung up the phone. "The FBI annual training/partnership retreat is this weekend and we have to go." She prepared herself for the inevitable whining that would come with this announcement.

Mulder threw himself back in his chair as he let out a long groan.

"But Scully we don't need that!"

"I'm not saying we do but Skinner says if we miss this one we will be put on mandatory unpaid suspension pending review of if we are FBI material."

"How long of a suspension?"

"Mulder! We have to go and no detours this time. I will ask you, just for this weekend, to be a grown up."  
"Well I guess my hands are tied. This is going to suck."

"It doesn't have to suck Mulder. We get to stay in a 4 star hotel, we get free buffet service for three meals a day, and we will be getting paid."  
Mulder sat up at the mention of a fancy hotel and Scully knew instantly what was going through his mind which caused her to let out a small sigh.

"Hotel huh?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Up for a little role playing this weekend Agent Scully? Just a couple of strangers who work with the FBI. Meet at a conference and can't resist each other. Screw the rules they say and make love all weekend as they don't know when they will next be together!" Mulder's hands waved in the air as he painted this scene.

His wild fantasy just enlisted another sigh from his partner who despite knowing it was a bad idea still found herself slightly turned on at the idea.

"We can be together over the weekend but we need to be discreet. We will still have adjoining rooms but we will need to be normal. No role playing."

"Fine. Someday I will take you to an even nicer hotel and we can have a chance meeting." He took her hand from across the desk and kissed it. Scully smiled despite herself and knew that she would enjoy the weekend.


	4. Charlotte

Disclaimer: X Files belongs to Fox and Chris Carter.

Charlotte

They were expected to be in Charlotte by 10:30 on Saturday so the pair decided to take that Friday to make their way and enjoy the day. Mulder rationalized skipping work by complaining about having to go at all and Scully did not have the energy to disagree and honestly didn't want to. Being the level headed of the two had become harder since their first kiss on New Years and even harder since they slept together. She tried to stay strong but he would smile and she would feel herself folding.

Scully was lost in these thoughts looking over at her partner at the wheel of the car cracking open sunflower seeds. She had never been the day dreaming type of girl either. She wanted to hate it all but she was having fun for the first time in so long. She felt like a teenager again.

A hand waving in front of her face broke her from her trance.

"Scully? I know it is hard not to get drawn in by the specimen before you but you're still my navigator." Mulder said glancing at her with a flirtatious smile.

Scully straitened up in her seat her face turning violently red and she took the map in hand. After discussing different routs and which is best (and maybe a small argument) Mulder graciously gave her permission to continue to admire him.

"Shut up Mulder." Scully said crossing her arms over her chest and turning to look out the window to hide the small smile that came to her face.

"What were you thinking about?" Mulder asked with genuine curiosity.

"Oh it's stupid I've just been in the car too long."

"Oh come on Scully!"

"Ok well I don't know! It's just been a while… and I guess I just feel like I am going soft."

"Been a while since what?" Mulder said with fake seriousness and a raised eyebrow.

"If you are going to ask me what I am thinking and then mock me I won't tell you anymore."

"Ok ok. You mean soft like letting me get away with stuff you would have put your foot down on before? If so then a little. But softness goes both ways Scully. I am sure there will be a time soon when you don't want to do a case or something and you can use your womanly wiles."

"Please. When you are on a case not even sex could distract you."

"You say that cause you haven't tried yet. Maybe you should try it. In fact I think that I have an idea for our next case right now…"

Scully gave him a light punch in the arm. They enjoyed the rest of the drive hands entangled and smiles on their faces.

One of the many perks that came with the new aspect of their relationship was already being so comfortable with one another. At first this had worried Scully because it would maybe put too much pressure on them but it had not seemed to make any difference so far. She did like that she didn't feel too self-conscious about her appearance and smell after the long drive. When the first moment of self consciousness arouse she reminded herself that Mulder had once seen her naked and covered in slime so anything less than that was nothing. She also knew that he was never concerned about his smell or appearance, which made her feel better as well.

One of the reasons that neither of them had dated in so long was how tetious it was to begin a new relationship. It always took so long to get to know the person and then you had to keep them updated and learn all of these new things. Both of them were already very private people and found letting anyone in difficult so starting a romantic relationship with all of that already taken care of was a welcome thing.

They got out of the car at the hotel and grabbed their weekend bags. They could tell that there were already agents that had arrived as well.

Mulder turned to whisper to Scully in the foyer, "Avoid eye contact and remember they can smell fear."

She giggled softly

The woman at the front desk called for them next and gave them their assigned rooms. As soon as they received the keys they both tried to make a run for it without seeing anyone they knew. But it was just not in the cards.

A man came up out of nowhere pulling Mulder around by the shoulder and bringing him into a tight obnoxious hug.

"Aw! If it ain't ol' spooky!" The man said loudly as he slapped Mulder's back.

"Hey Greg." Mulder said trying to hide his irritation.

"And who might this lovely slice of heaven be?" Greg said as his attention turned to Scully.

"Agent Scully. I'm Mulder's partner." She said dryly. He held out his hand as if to shake but when he took her hand he instead put it to his lips and bowed.

"Pleasure." Scully quickly pulled her hand away considering giving the man a piece of her mind but the want to get out of there made her reconsider.

"Come on man that is not how you treat a fellow agent." Mulder said his irritation now very thinly veiled.

"You're right you're right. Sorry ma'am."

Scully just nodded.

"Well I hate to go so quickly but we actually have some work to do so…" Mulder said as he began to lead Scully away his hand at on her lower back.

"Hey wait Fox man!" Greg yelled.  
Mulder put his finger up in a one-minute gesture to Scully and walked back over.

"Yes?"

"What's your room number? Since things have not started yet I was thinking of having a little party if you know what I mean." He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Uh it is on my room key thing over with my stuff I'll get it to you later."

"Oh wait one more thing: is your partner single?"

"No." Mulder said curtly.

Greg looked up at him amazement on his face, "Oh I see. You doing her? I heard that might be the case. I mean sitting in that basement with a hot piece like that…"

Mulder was getting his fist ready for a good punch when Scully called over to him.

"Hey Mulder your phone." She said holding it up.

Greg made a whipping sound as Mulder walked away.

"Fake call. I could tell you were getting pissed. Didn't want to already have problems before we even start." Scully said.

The elevator doors opened and the two agents stepped in. Mulder quickly pressed the close door button to avoid running into anyone else.

Scully put her hand on Mulder's elbow in an attempt to calm him. When he looked down she smiled at him and he immediately felt calmer.

Once they found their adjoining rooms they went in and first thing opened the shared door and settled in keeping their things in their own respective rooms. Both were in desperate need of a shower and change of clothes.

Once they were properly washed and comfortable Mulder made his way into Scully's room hands in his sweatpants acting casual as if he had just happened upon this room. Scully was on the bed in pajama shorts and one of Mulder's shirts brushing her wet hair and reading a book. She smiled at him and he came around to the other side of the bed throwing himself down on the bed jostling Scully and throwing her belongings off of the bed.

"Mulder." She said disapprovingly. He just gave her a smile and she turned away to prevent her own. She acted as if she were very engrossed in the show that was playing on TV but in reality had no idea what she was even watching. Mulder took his hand and put it on her calf moving it up and down. She looked at him dubiously but turned her face back to her book pretending not to care.

He took a different approach and tickled the sensitive spot behind her knee. She held back for as long as she could.

"Mulder!" She cried kicking her leg up and pushing him.  
He cracked up.

"Come on Scully. Isn't this supposed to be some kind of romantic weekend away?" He asked

"Yes it is. I'm so tired. Don't you just want to cuddle?"

"Oh I do love cuddling." He replied moving up the bed over her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and began kissing her face and neck. Scully could feel herself giving in as his breath tickled her ear and neck.

Soon enough they were making love and forget the outside world.

The alarm went off at 9:30. Scully was tangled in the sheets and for a moment she didn't know where she was. When a strong arm wrapped around her waist she remembered and smiled. She turned on her side to face him and moved close. Her nose touched his and she gave him a small Eskimo kiss. She felt his morning erection against her leg and smiled knowing what their morning had in store.

By 10:15 Mulder was dragging his feet like a child who didn't want to go to school. He even tried to convince Scully that he was coming down with something. He seemed to go through the stages of grief. Luckily Scully had been through this with him before and knew not to react. She just went along with getting herself ready every once in a while telling Mulder to brush his teeth or put on a shirt. For the first couple years they worked together this behavior had annoyed her but now she just knew it was apart of him. She knew in the best and worst ways Mulder was child like.

There was a point a few years ago when Scully realized that his flaws were a part of him. Mulder could be selfish, childish, and bull-headed but he was also passionate, sensitive, and smart. She understood something that she had never understood in any other relationship that it was possible to love a persons flaws and she loved his. As annoying as they could be they were part of him and she knew she had things about her that annoyed him and knew that he still loved her.

So because of all this she smiled to herself as he walked in circles around the rooms pretending to not know where his shoes and socks were.

She finally decided to grab them herself. They were not hard to find.

"Right here Mulder. Now come on you know we have to do this and if we are late it will be even more unpleasant." She said holding up his shoes and socks.

"Yeah I just want to stay in here all day. Maybe head out for some food and then just lay around." He said laying back on the bed looking at the ceiling.

She smiled at him and sat next to him.

"Some other day." She laid the shoes with the socks in them on his stomach and got up to finish her own routine.

She was finishing her lipstick when Mulder appeared in the mirror leaning against the doorframe.

He looked down at his watch, "Wow 10:25. Scully you're going to make us late." He said not even bothering to try to look serious.

Scully just glared back at him.


	5. Spooky

Disclaimer: The X Files is not mine.

Note: Short but sweet. Might have another chapter tonight.

Spooky

In the entrance to the ballroom where everything would take place there was a table with nametags. Each nametag had the name of the agent it belonged to as well as their department they were apart of.

When Mulder and Scully got to the table they began to look for their names but did not see them.

They were confused until Mulder's eye caught two matching nametags.

"Mr. Spooky and Mrs. Spooky." He said in a dry voice.

Scully felt a righteous anger rising up and picked up the one-labeled 'Mrs. Spooky' holding it up in front of the people manning the table.

"Are you kidding me? This is supposed to be a professional event! How old are you? I was under the impression that this was a work related activity. I wonder what the deputy director would think of this kind of behavior?" As she yelled she knew in the back of her mind that Kersh couldn't care less about this issue. But it did seem to shake up the agents at the table.

"It was just a joke!" One said as they handed over the real name tags that read 'Special Agent Dana Scully' and 'Special Agent Fox Mulder' both with 'X-Files' under their names. He seemed to be part irritated and part nervous about the 'joke'.

Scully snatched the real tags out of his hand and stormed away. Mulder stayed behind for a moment eyebrows raised.

"Screw you." He said simply and walked quickly after his partner who had stopped to throw away the offending tags and put on her new one. Mulder approached her carefully.

"Hey it's ok. Those guys are assholes who cares what they think?" He said rubbing her arm and taking his own tag.

"Mulder they mock our work which I would argue is just as important if not more important than much of the departments here. Everyone turns it into a joke. Whenever they do that I just think of all of the suffering we have seen and experienced and all of the new and amazing discoveries that have been found. It just makes me so mad." Her arms were crossed angrily and she was looking at the ground.

"I'm sorry." He said as he pulled her in for a hug.

"It's not your fault."

"This has been happening to me for a long time because of the attention I have drawn to myself. You don't deserve this."

She pulled away to look at his face. "Mulder when I chose to stay on the X Files I knew that many people would question that career choice. I knew there was a possibility of me becoming a target. That does not make it acceptable. We are in this together."

He smiled and reached into the trashcan to grab the offending tags. She was slightly grossed out but not surprised to see him putting his hand in a trashcan. He had done stranger things. He took the tag labeled 'Mr. Spooky' and put clipped it onto his jacket.

"Lean into the skid." He said shrugging. Scully's heart felt full and she smiled at him taking the fake nametag and pinning it on. She dropped her real one into the trash and he followed. They smiled at each other for a moment and then walked off into the ballroom to find their seats.


	6. Teamwork

Disclaimer: The X Files does not belong to me

Teamwork

The tables were not labeled so the two of them looked around hopelessly to find a spot where they could sit without being mocked or bothered. They spotted some agents that Scully taught at Quantico who she knew would at least be respectful. The students were nice if a bit weary of Mulder. They had heard stories, of course, of 'Spooky Mulder' from many places but the stories that Dr. Agent Dana Scully had told during some of her classes could come strait out of the movies. Other agents came to join the table. No one of particular interest joined and they all shared mostly small talk.

A few minutes before the presentations actually started Mulder spotted a table with different kinds of breakfast pastries and some coffee and ran off to get some for himself and Scully.

While he was gone an agent who Scully had never met who was sitting across from her a few seats down leaned toward her.

"Is he seeing anyone?" The young woman asked. Scully instantly turned defensive but then realized that he really was seeing someone. She wouldn't be lying to the leggy brunette by saying so she just would omit her own name.

"Yeah he is." Scully said feigning disappointment for the young woman with a shrug.

The woman shrugged back and nodded thanks as Mulder made his way back.

Scully turned to look at him as he got into his was trying to sit down. He was holding two coffees in one hand, a small stack of doughnuts in the other, and some kind of coffee cake was hanging half way out of his mouth.

"Really Mulder?" She said taking one coffee and the doughnuts from him allowing him to sit. "And you wonder why people talk about you at these things." Her voice was laced with affection.

"I don't feel like I got enough." He looked over his inventory on the table. A piece of coffee cake (Half slobbered on), coffee for himself and Scully, and four doughnuts of different kinds.

"How hungry can you possibly be? I thought you grabbed something on the way out?"

"I did but I am anticipating this being exceptionally boring and food goes great with that. So does booze but I feel like this might be the wrong crowd."

"Right crowd wrong time." She laughed. "If I remember correctly this same group will be out on the town all night and hung over tomorrow."

"Yeah? When you last went as a young naïve med school student did you go out and party?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"I went out for an hour or two with a couple of the friends I had made but I've never been a big partyer."

"See now that's weird cause I could have sworn I saw you on girls gone wild one time…."

She elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ok wow you seem a little defensive Scully."

"I went on pub crawls and parties in college and at first they were fun because of the thrill of it but about half way through college it just got old. I mean you put effort in to look nice so that you can go to a bar with your friends to have fun and while your there random guys keep buying you drinks. And at first that is nice cause, you know, drinks cost a lot of money but then you realize that in exchange for drinking the drink he sent over the guy expects you to do something for him. So then you either have to get up and dance with him (which usually includes a lot of uninvited touching) or you have to sit there and listen to him talk for an hour. And by the end of the night all of your friends are either off with some random guy or, like you, are heading home feeling all fuzzy with messed up hair and make up. So that was basically my whole partying experience. Sometimes thought I will go on the occasional ladies night to spend time with friends. Usually at those there are enough women to be buffers."

Mulder laughed.

"What?" She asked with one eyebrow slowly rising.

"It's just funny because it is so you. All of what you just said. I get it. You are logical and you don't put up with other people's shit. You want to go to a bar and have fun with friends and some jackasses ruin it. Most women go to those places so that those jack asses can take them home."

He looked at her with affection.

The presentation began with Kersh taking the stage to thank everyone for coming and taking time out of their busy schedules to be there.

Mulder leaned in and whispered to Scully, "Yeah because it's not like we have to be here."

"Shhhh. We just have to make it a few hours you will live." Scully hissed back.

She could imagine Mulder deflating beside her.

Kersh went on to talk about different successes that the FIB has had over the past couple years. He mentioned the intervention of a bank bombing that would have killed many people that the 'FBI' was able to prevent. Conveniently neither Mulder nor Scully were brought up. Scully was slightly irritated by this mostly on behalf of Mulder but she knew that Mulder did not expect nor care for recognition.

After what felt like forever Kersh's introduction ended and he introduced Agents Kinsley and Stonecypher.

"Oh god." Mulder mumbled.

Scully laughed under her breath and said to him, "I wonder if they will have us make a furniture tower?"

As usual the partners were energetic and acted as if there was no place they would rather be spending their weekend.

Agent Stonecypher started out, "So who is excited for some teambuilding?!"

A shocking number of people yelled back to show their excitement. Mulder just put his face in his hands as Scully laughed.

"I know I am!" Agent Kinsley responded. He then continued to explain how the coming activities would be arranged. Each pair would team up with another pair and would have to preform different activities. He also gave a heartfelt story of how exercises such as these were why he and his partner worked so well together. He explained that each table had a set of instructions on each activity. He requested that all the agents grab up one sheet per pair and read with him as he explained. Mulder made no move toward the stack of papers so Scully took one for them. Agent Stonecypher took over to explain the first game.

"At each table there should be eight people meaning four pairs. I want you each to stay with your partner and pick a pair to team up with." She directed.

Mulder was still disengaged so Scully looked at her two former students next to her and they nodded to her in understanding.

"Ok so hopefully by now you are all teamed up! After I explain we will give you a few minutes to get to know each other before the games begin! Our first activity will be a short one but a classic. We want to do practice trust falling." Scully heard Mulder groan behind her. "I know to some this may sound silly but it will help your subconscious to build a lasting trust toward your partner. If you do not know how this exercise is done it will explain on the sheet. I will give you all a couple minutes to get to know your team and then we will start."

Scully bumped Mulder to get him to look up and pay attention. She gestured to the two women who sat on her other side.

"Mulder these are Agents Crista Sosa and Joan Tan I taught them during my short time at the academy." Mulder shook hands with both women.

Agent Sosa was a tall strong looking woman with dark skin and hair. She looked like she belonged in the Olympics rather than in a suit in a conference room. Her tough exterior did little to hide her friendly kind spirit her pretty eyes and smile gave it away.

Her partner was a beautiful woman of Asian decent. She seemed about as tall as Scully but was also even smaller. She put her hand out with a sense of confidence giving a small smile and a nod.

"And as you two know this is my partner Agent Fox Mulder."

"We heard a lot about you when Agent Scully was our instructor." Agent Sosa said, "She told us some amazing stories about working at the X Files. It sounds like such exciting work!"

Mulder relaxed a bit at the woman's positive attitude toward his work.

"Well nothing would get done with our work if Agent Scully wasn't there to keep me on track." He said smiling.

Both women smiled and the four talked for a couple more minutes until Agent Stonecypher went back on stage to announce it was time for the activity.

The four agents found a free corner and stood awkwardly for a moment not knowing how to start. They looked around and noticed that most groups did not know where to start either.  
Agent Tan took the lead; "Alright so everyone has does this before right?" The other Agents nodded, "Well let's just get to it then. Just channel your inner 13 year old. Cris come on let me catch you." She said holding out her arms to her partner who was almost as tall as Mulder.

"You sure you can hold me?" Agent Sosa said teasingly.

"Well I can kick your ass any day so I am pretty sure I can catch you."

"If you say so."

Agent Sosa stepped out in front of her partner, "Am I supposed to close my eyes?"

"I think so." Scully responded, "But this is a work conference maybe we should ask for help." The group laughed at some of Dana's rare humor and Sosa closed her eyes.

Tan held out her arms and positioned herself perfectly as her partner fell. She caught her perfectly under the arms.

"I forgot how freaky that can be." Sosa said.

"Come on Scully let's do this!" Mulder said energetically placing her in front of him.

"Wow what's got you so excited?" She said with a infamous raised brow.

"Who wouldn't be excited for the trust fall?"

Scully closed her eyes and found it hard all of a sudden to just completely let go. She knew Mulder would catch her but a part of her was worried about hitting the ground. She chastised herself thinking of how stupid this whole thing was. The small fear was just a natural evolutionary instinct that came from not wanting to be injured. She finally let herself fall back freely and right when she thought she would hit the ground Mulder's arms found her.

"Good teamwork." He said close to her ear tickling her neck.

Scully stood up and straitened herself.

"Alright Joan go for it." Scully said.

Agent Tan stepped in front of her partner closed her eyes and fell back freely. Scully marveled at how easily she let go of herself.

"I totally thought you were going to let me fall on my ass." She said to her partner with a laugh.

Mulder turned to Scully and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Now I know I am physically intimidating but you can do this Scully. Do not be afraid." He said with mock seriousness.

"Sure. Fine. Whatever." She said dryly, "Turn around."

"You could buy me a drink first! Geez!" Mulder said as the other Agents laughed, enjoying his hijinks.

He stood in front of Scully and dramatically put his arms out and fell back. At first Scully was slightly nervous he would crush her but she caught him right under the arms.

There were a few more minutes allotted for the activity so the four walked back to their seats. They had not been there a minute, however, when a somewhat frazzled A.D. Skinner approached Mulder and Scully.

"Agents I need to see you two in the lobby." He said looking at the and then continuing on through the doors.

Scully and Mulder looked at each other and shrugged.

As soon as they cleared the door Skinner grabbed their arms and tugged them down the hall toward the bathrooms. Standing around the two doors was a small number of other Agents who all looked up as the trio passed.

Skinner stopped them in front of the door for the women's room and turned to face them.

"We are going to need your help with something. I think we might have an X File on our hands."

He then opened the door to reveal their new case.


	7. Acid Washed

Disclaimer: I do not own the X Files

Note: I will probably end up adding another chapter tonight in an attempt to procrastinate studying for finals. Enjoy! P.s sorry for the title I couldn't help it.

Acid Washed

Agent Traci Wells was an average woman. She worked with White Collar Crimes in the FBI and had moved up the ladder fast. She went to University of Maryland to get a degree in Criminal Justice and went strait into the Academy. Her father was a powerful businessman in Washington which some did say had to do with how fast she moved up. Others say it was because she was sleeping with her superior, but that was just a rumor.

She had brown hair and eyes. She was of average height and she was pretty in a very normal way. There was nothing particularly interesting or special about her except for the way she met her demise.

She was found on the floor of a hotel public bathroom almost unrecognizable. Her face looked like it had almost melted off and so had her hands and calves.

Agent Scully looked at the scene before her and was baffled.

"She looks almost like the victim of an acid throwing attack but her face seems to be effective in some areas and not in others and that would not necessarily explain her death." Scully said as she leant close to the victim's face.

"What about her hands and legs?" Mulder asked as he lifted the woman's arm off the ground examining it.

Scully took it from him, "It is almost like she just dipped her hands in a tub of acid and then stood in a tub of it up to her knees. Are there any signs of acid in the area?" She asked out loud to the people walking around waiting for someone to reply.

"No ma'am." A man said who was opposite the body taking pictures.

"There are no signs of a struggle. She must not have seen it coming." Scully noted.

"I don't think she was attacked Scully." Mulder said already lost to his own thoughts.

"How else would this have happened to her Mulder?"

"I don't know. Maybe someone poisoned her? Allergy?" Both excuses were somewhat bland coming from the agent known throughout the FBI for his passionate belief in aliens.

"Huh. That sounds surprisingly normal Mulder." Scully said also surprised.

"What? Sometimes things are as they seem." He said shrugging but she knew him well and could tell that the gears in his head were turning.

"Who found her?" Scully asked turning to look at Skinner.

"Her partner Agent Thornton. I sent her to a sitting room down the hall to calm down. There are a couple agents taking her statement right now."

"Has her A.D. been informed?"

"Yes A.D. Cannon has been informed. He is in the same room being interviewed."

Both agents looked at him wondering why he was being questioned.

Skinner sighed, "The two were having an affair. She had excused herself during Kersh's speech saying she needed to go to the bathroom, and maybe she did, but the true reason was to meet him in his hotel room. He excused himself five minutes later to go meet her."

"How long was it from her leaving till now?" Scully asked.

"About forty five minutes."

"And he didn't think it was strange that it was taking her that long to get to his room?" Scully said eyebrow up.

"You'll have to ask him agent."

"Is he admitting to all of this or is it conjecture?" Mulder asked.

"He denied it at first but once he found out she was dead he admitted it all. Keep it quiet for now he has a family."

Mulder's face fell into disgust. "Yeah we wouldn't want to make life hard on him."

Skinner just gave him a look that said follow this order.

"In fact keep all of this low profile for now."

"We wouldn't want to embarrass the FBI by the death of an agent who was going to go sleep with her married boss at a conference."

"Agent Mulder you are already on thin ice as it is I suggest you listen to what I am saying." Skinner said through his teeth.

"When will they be taking her body to the morgue? Will they be sending it back to D.C?" Scully asked ignoring the tension between the two men.

"She will be examined here by you. I expect they will take her body as soon as they finish up here. Do you need to look around more or are you both satisfied?"

Scully looked to Mulder and he nodded. "We're done."

"Alright Agent Scully I think you should head to the morgue and get ready to examine the body and Agent Mulder I think you should stay here and help with getting some statements as well as checking out her, her partner's, and A.D. Cannon."

"Sounds good." Scully said as she made her way out the door.

"Come on Mulder let's go see her room before anyone else makes their way in there." Skinner said leading the way.

"You think someone might try to cover something up?" Mulder asked.

"I don't want to take a chance that someone will."


	8. Normal

Disclaimer: I do not own the X Files

Normal

When they entered the Agent Wells' hotel room they were not surprised to find that it was clean and everything was made up. Mulder spotted her small suitcase open on a small table in the corner of the room. Skinner went into the bathroom while Mulder made his way to the suitcase. The counter of the bathroom was covered in beauty products. It looked so natural and normal. To any unseasoned investigator the sight of the woman's room would have been upsetting. All of the signs of her normal morning routine were there waiting for her to return. It was something both of the agents did not dwell on.

Mulder was standing at the open suitcase when Skinner left the bathroom. Next to her suitcase sat three different bottles of lotion and a couple different body sprays. He began to pull out the contents with his gloved hands.

The entire first layer was all sorts of lingerie; "Well she obviously had big plans for the weekend." Mulder said as he continued on. The rest of the suitcase contained nothing of any interest.

"This woman seems about as normal as they come. I mean besides the whole sleeping with her boss part." Mulder muttered as he looked around the room a little more to see if they had missed anything. "Was there anything interesting in the bathroom?" He asked his own boss.

"No just make up, tooth brush, tooth paste. Regular stuff." He shrugged.

Mulder suddenly turned around. He had the look on his face he got when he had an idea. He picked up the bottles of lotion and body spray. All of them were from the same company, 'Bombe' which was written across the bottles in fancy scroll.

"Have them bag these." Mulder said and quickly made his way to the bathroom.

As he expected all of the beauty products in the bathroom where from the same company that made the lotions. "These too."

"What are you thinking Mulder?" Skinner asked.

"I'm not sure yet. But considering the condition of her skin it might be significant that all of the stuff she puts on her skin is made by the same company."

"I guess. Check out the rest of the rooms and read over the statements taken. If you have more questions that were not asked now would be the time to ask while everyone is gathered. I'm going to go oversee the gathering of the body. When you're done go to the morgue and see what Scully finds." Skinner walked out as he gave the team the go ahead to start work on the room.

Scully slapped on her latex gloves in her usual fashion. She was not looking forward to this. Not that she ever really _looked forward_ to any autopsy but in most X Files she at least was interested in what she would find.

With this case, however, came a lot of pressure. This was not a random victim of some paranormal event she was an FBI agent. An FBI agent who was sleeping with her superior. After looking more into her caseload Scully had also discovered that Agent Wells had been involved in some high profile cases against some powerful people. All of this caused her some nervousness despite all of her experience.

The body was rolled in and moved to the table in front of her. Scully removed the sheet to look at Agent Wells face, or at least what was left of it.

Scully turned on her tape recorder and started with the date and details of the crime.

She then focused her attention on the woman's face, "Face appears to be corroded by some sort of acid in different places. Further tests are needed to show what substance it was that caused such damage." She began at the woman's eyes, "Eyes are burned past recognition and the eyeballs themselves are heavily damaged. Nose seems to be untouched… which is odd. Cheeks are only affected on the top of the cheekbone… Lips are almost completely gone… chin still in tact as well as ears and neck." Scully paused and looked at the body in confusion. It was almost as if there was some sort of pattern to where the damage was done but she could not figure out why in was only in these certain spots: The eyes, lips, and upper cheek.

She continued to pull down the sheet and exposed the rest of the woman's body. Everything looked normal from her elbows up. Her torso was completely untouched, as were her thighs. The damage started again at her knees and seemed the worst at her feet where there was very little skin left.

Scully picked up the woman's hand to examine it, "Victims hands appear to be even more heavily damaged than face… as if more of whatever substance that did this was applied to her hands… Finger nails are completely dissolved…" She finished the last part as if just suggesting an idea to herself and then continued, "Much of the flesh has been corroded and what remains seems to have damage consistent with a bad chemical burn… the skin from her wrist to her elbow is affected but it appears that whatever caused this was applied less as it moved up her arms."

Scully moved down to the victim's legs, "As stated earlier thighs appear mostly unaffected. Damage begins on the kneecap where a lot of the flesh was burned away. As I go down the calf it becomes less damaged until I reach the ankle where damage becomes worse than anywhere else on the body… the victim's feet appear almost skeletal as if dipped in some sort of acid or corrosive chemical…" Scully stared at the feet for a moment, "Note: check for any damage done to the shoes the victim was wearing at the time of the murder." Scully sighed and went to retrieve her tools to begin her internal investigation. It was going to be a long day.

Mulder made his way to the room next door that belonged to Agent Thornton, the victim's partner. The door was open and a couple of other agents were sitting with her taking her statement.

Mulder stood at the door to listen, "… She was just lying there like that! I was not even sure that it was her at first but she was wearing the same clothes and everything! She was only gone a little while!"

Agent Thornton was crying heavily as the agent questioning her asked, "Were you aware of where your partner was going when she left her seat?"

Thornton nodded and seemed embarrassed by her next admission, "I knew she was sleeping with Jerry. I know that sounds just awful but I felt like it was none of my business! I told her to cut it out but she was convinced that he loved her. He would tell her he was going to leave his wife and marry her!"

The questioning agents did not react but continued with obvious caution in their next line of questioning, "Were you aware of any… problems between your partner and A.D. Cannon?"

"Well… Ok so a few months ago Trac came up to me and was really excited. She took me to a private place and told me that she had found out she was pregnant with Jerry's baby. She was really excited about it because she believed that it would finally make him make good on his promises to leave his family. She didn't say it like that of course. What she said was that now they could really be a family. I pretended to be happy for her but I knew he wasn't gonna leave his wife. I have no problems with A.D. Cannon but we all know Traci was not the only agent under him that he was sleeping with." Thornton took a long breath to calm herself and continued, "Turns out I was right. When she told him he got real angry and told her she needed to get an abortion. Now the rest of this is just what Traci told me later I wasn't there so I don't know… Just…. I don't want to get in trouble for this. She said she didn't want to and he threatened her position at the FBI."  
Both interviewing agents looked up at her, "In what way did he threaten her position?"

"I don't really know. When she told me about it she was all frantic and upset and I could only understand that she was worried about her job."

"Did she go through with the abortion?"

"Yeah a few days later Jerry went to her all sweet with gifts and everything and told her it would all be fine and that he would go with her and hold her hand. He talked her into it. Traci had already been thinking up names and crap like that. She didn't tell me about it until after or I would have tried to get her to see what he was doing. After it happened she never wanted to talk about it and moved on like normal."

Mulder had heard enough. He knew that anything Thornton had to say about the affair was not going to have much to do with the way she died.

He cleared his throat and asked from the door, "Had Agent Wells made any small changes in her life lately?"

All three looked at him confused by the relevance of the question. It was obvious that the agents before him had already come to their own conclusions.

"Oh sorry! I'm Agent Fox Mulder I've been assigned to the case." He said introducing himself.

He could tell by their faces that they knew who he was.

Agent Thornton shrugged it off and answered his question, "Well I know she started at some new gym. She was on a new super diet thing and would skip lunch most days. Ummm…. I don't know I mean we were close but not like best friends or anything. We didn't really hang out on our time off."

"So you don't know if she made any changes in brands she was buying or anything?"

Thornton looked irritated at this question and Mulder could tell that she was already offended that her partner's murder had been assigned to the X Files,

"I don't know Agent Mulder not all partners are attached at the hip." She said making an obvious jab at the closeness that he and Scully shared. She then dissolved into tears.

Mulder rolled his eyes and moved on to down the hall where A.D. Cannon was being interviewed. It seemed they were wrapping up questioning when Mulder entered. He introduced himself and asked the same questions that he had to the agent down the hall.

A.D. Cannon stared at Mulder for a minute, "Excuse me? You want to know about small life style changes? I don't know. She was trying to lose weight I guess. She was wearing new stuff a lot. I think she was trying to impress me. I am not proud of what I did and I was trying to move on and she didn't like that so she was buying a bunch of new clothes, make up, underwear, all that crap to try to make me stay."

"Make up?" Mulder asked.

The A.D. just squinted his eyes at Mulder and replied, "You think this is some kind of joke? Ya know Agent Mulder your reputation proceeds you. You are a weirdo. And I don't know what kind of stuff she put on her face. Now can I please go?" He looked around the room knowing that none of the agents there would stop him if he chose to leave.

Mulder nodded and Cannon headed toward the door as he exited and began to move down the hall Mulder called after him, "Oh and sir! Please make yourself available for further questioning. Thank you. Sorry for your loss." Every word was dripping with sarcasm but the A.D. just shook his head and continued on.

Mulder turned back to the room and addressed the agents inside, "Bag up his clothes for me would ya? I want them sent to the lab to look and see if there are any traces of Wells' make up on there." He could tell the agents thought the request was stupid but they just nodded and began finishing up their exam of the room.

Mulder turned on his heel and made his way down the hall. He was done with the questioning for now and his mind had moved ahead to the autopsy and what Scully had found in her exam. On his way out many looked his way and would turn to whisper amongst themselves most likely commenting on the fact that he had been assigned the case. Mulder sighed to himself. This case might not be the most exciting but it would sure be interesting.


	9. Peace

Disclaimer: The X Files is not mine

Peace

Mulder walked into the morgue and was greeted by the sight of Scully pulling guts out of a course. Whenever he watched the autopsies it was with a mix of interest and disgust. Scully always kept her cool while sorting through a dead persons insides. He found it sexy in an odd way.

"Hey doc what did you find?" He came up next to her to see the body.

"Nothing conclusive. You saw her skin but that alone doesn't seem to have caused the death and if it did it would have been amazingly fast. I still am not sure what kind of chemical could have possibly cut through flesh so quickly and how it would only have affected certain specific areas." She removed the organs from the scale, "On the inside things seem mostly normal. I sent her blood to be tested so we will not know too much more till we get those results."

"How long will that take?"

"Early morning maybe? I imagine they will try to move fast considering it is about the murder of an agent. I also sent in tissue samples to see what could have eaten at the skin like that. Find anything in the room?"

"Not really. Some kind of fancy makeup and lotions that she uses a lot of. I have been wondering if whatever did that to her was put into the stuff I found."

Scully looked at him thoughtfully, "Seems unlikely. Whatever did this did it fast and she would have been wearing that makeup all day. Why would it have suddenly destroyed her like that?"

"Well I don't know. It's just an idea. I sent them to the lab to be looked at."

"Did the makeup and lotions look well used?"

"They seemed pretty new actually."

"Well they would have been applied to the affected places. Did you talk to her partner and the Assistant Director?" She had removed her goggles and was now leaning against the table facing him.

"Yeah… Nothing new really just that he was sleeping with her and not treating her well blah blah blah. But I think we might have a hard time getting them to help us out."

"Why?"  
"They both seemed ok until I started questioning them and then they started the customary X files mocking."  
"What kind of questions did you ask?" She looked at him flatly.

"What does that have to do with it?"

"Well if you came in and just started asking weird questions it probably made them uncomfortable."

"I guess the questions _might_ have seemed odd to them. I just asked if they knew of any changes she was making in her life as far as things like makeup, clothing, diet, etc. and they both got irritated about it."  
"What did they say?"

"Cannon said she was trying to reel him in by getting into better shape and getting all new stuff. I have to say it seemed that way based on her suit case."

"Why did she feel the need to 'reel' him in?"

"He claims he was going to break up with her but I think it was because of a pregnancy scare they had a few months ago that ended in him talking her into an abortion. One that, according to her partner, Traci did not really want to have. I think he wanted to break things off cause he sensed that she wanted a family with him."

"It sounds like he had plenty of motive. We should probably check out his wife too."

Mulder sighed, "I doubt it will be that easy Scully."

"Most of the time in murders are committed by partners or spurred lovers. They are not all vampires, flesh eating insects, and mind controllers."

"Does this look like a run of the mill murder to you?" Mulder said crossing his arms.

"Mulder all of the cases we handle are more than 'run of the mill' murders but that doesn't mean a motive always has to be something so far out as cannibalism or incest. How about we wait for test results before we jump to it being paranormal?"

"Fine. How much do you have left?"

"Just finishing up actually. Just need to mark down the attributes of the organs and I'm done." She turned back toward the table to finish her work.

"Skinner wants us back in D.C. by tomorrow morning. I got us tickets we will need to be on the way to the airport in…" He glanced at his watch, "about 3 hours."

"At least we don't have to drive." Scully said with a sigh.

She stopped her work when two hands were planted on the table on either side of her. She sighed once again and pretended not to notice until he began to move his head close to her neck and became impossible to ignore.

"Mulder…" She said warningly, "Remember what we discussed?"

"What? I'm just observing."

"Why don't you head back to the hotel and start to get our stuff together? I think you are getting a little antsy around here." Scully continued to pretend to be doing her work but was very distracted by his proximity. She felt an odd mix of arousal and irritation.

"No I don't want to miss any interesting discoveries."

Scully rolled her eyes and turned around to face him intending to begin to push him toward the door. He of course took this as a sign she appreciated the moves he was making.

"Mulder we are in a morgue. There is a dead body literally right behind me. Not to mention the many others around the room."

"I fail to see your point."

She gently pushed against his chest and turned him around to face the door from which he had entered.

She steered him toward the door, "Go on you can start getting packed I will be there within the hour and we can eat before we go. Sound good?"

"No it does not sound good but I will accept it in exchange for airplane bathroom sex." Though she could not see his face she knew he was wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Sure. Fine. Whatever. That sounds great now here you go." She opened the door for him as he had been dragging his feet the whole time like a child.

He turned toward her, "Promise?"  
"I do not make promises I won't keep." She tried to keep the laughter from her voice and instead pointed out the door. "Now go on before you do something that will get us into trouble."

He smiled at her and went on his way.

Scully sighed for what felt like the hundredth time in the past five minutes and went back to finish her work.

By the time they were in the air Scully was dead asleep mouth slightly open and head on Mulder's shoulder.

Mulder smiled down at her sleeping form. It always amazed him how she could just fall asleep like that on plane rides or in the car when he could hardly get to sleep in his own home (mysterious waterbed or otherwise). She looked so young when he slept. With all of the careful control that she held over herself during the days gone she seemed peaceful. He knew she had nightmares, just as he did, but during these naps she took she was able to achieve a measure of peace and he, by extension, felt that peace.

Even the sleeping beauty next to him could not keep his mind from straying to the current case. Mulder mulled over everything in his mind, taking a mental inventory of what they knew so far. He just wanted the plane to land so he could start some proper research into the beauty company that supplied Agent Wells with her cosmetics. _Bombe…._ He recognized the name and he could not figure out from where. Sitting under the seat in front of him was a brief case that held information on the case but he could not get it without disturbing Scully. It wouldn't do any good anyways; he had been over it all at least five times already with nothing. What he really was interested in seeing was the deceased agent's past and current caseload. While he and Scully's assignment was very dangerous every day on it's face white collar crime came with it's own set of dangers and definitely was a department that made many powerful enemies.

Mulder sighed internally. He would not be able to get his hands on her cases until morning most likely but there was no way of informing his brain of the futility of sorting and resorting at the current junction. His mind never rested it was always going in a million directions and never slowing down. Some called it brilliance but he called it torture.

A soft noise from Scully drew his attention from the case for a moment. He watched her shift trying to find a comfortable place. A soft smile found his lips and he slowly lifted his arm as he used his other hand to pull up the armrest in between them. He then put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. They didn't know anyone on this flight plus he just couldn't resist. She melted into his chest and was still again within moments.

Although his brain would not rest Mulder felt some peace as he rested his head on the top of hers.


	10. Rule Breaker

Disclaimer: I do not own the X Files

Note: It feels like forever since my last update. I have been super sick and so my mind is a bit loopy so excuse any errors or weird stuff you read. I do still need a beta so if you want to PM me! Enjoy! And thank you so much for the reviews, they mean so much and keep me going.

P.S. Science stuff is not my thing. As much as I wish I was Scully I am totally lost when it comes to science so just pretend I know what I am talking about.

Rule Breaker

They got to D.C. very late and both knew they would only have a few hours of sleep ahead before they would need to be back to the investigation. Mulder's apartment was closer to the airport and he was able to convince a not fully conscious Scully to just stay the night. She protested lightly and even tried to say she would sleep on the couch to which Mulder just laughed.

It was around three by the time they found themselves under his covers. Mulder wrapped his body around Scully's and in that warmth they both quickly fell asleep.

They only got three hours of sleep before they were awakened by Mulder's ringing phone. Scully moaned and Mulder rolled over and grabbed the headset,

"Mulder." His voice was raspy with a hint of irritation.

While Mulder listened to the other end of the phone Scully was at war with herself. She knew the call was probably from the lab saying the results were in and that she should start getting ready to go but she did not want to move from the warmth of the bed. As it was his comforter surrounded her and the only cold part of her was her back, which, until a few moments ago, had been covered by Mulder.

She tried to pretend she was asleep as he hung up the phone. She knew he didn't care but she thought maybe if she pretended she would actually fall back asleep. She, of course, knew it was too late for that because she could practically feel Mulder's brain moving on from sleep to the current case.

She felt him uncover his legs and then lean over to kiss her on the cheek softly saying, "I'm grabbing a shower if you want to you can join or you can get more sleep." He nuzzled her neck for a second and then was off to the bathroom.

Another war began this time between the warm bed and the appealing man undressing in the bathroom.

She sighed to herself and removed the covers. She knew by going to him she was breaking her own rules but if she was going to have to get up she might as well enjoy it.

The test results were just as confusing as the autopsy. Scully looked at the papers in front of her and read them over for what felt like the millionth time.

Meanwhile Mulder sat across from her at his desk looking over Agent Wells' case files.

"Mulder I understand the words on the paper but I cannot figure out how it all goes together. The mixture of chemicals just doesn't make sense. There is no way that this combination could possibly do the damage that was done to her face let alone somehow kill her." Scully finished her sentence off by throwing the files she was looking at down on the desk. "On top of that some of the findings indicate that the damage to her face and body may have been done to her post-mortem."

Mulder sat up straighter as he grew more interested, "What would the cause of death be then?"

"Well I am not totally sure yet. I need to do more in depth testing of her tissue, the cosmetics you gave me, and her clothing, among other samples collected in the bathroom and her hotel room."

"Ok but if you were to make a guess about cause of death…."

"There are a couple of ways it could have happened: Either she was poisoned by something that was ingested and/or applied to her skin, or she was hit with a blunt object and then disfigured."

"Wait? Blunt object? Where did this come from?"

"Well it turns out that whatever did this was able to make it all the way to the bone around her eyes. There appears to be fracturing around her left eye that could have come from a blow to the head but it also could have been caused by her bones weakening by the corrosive element and getting fractured when she hit the floor."

"Wow. This stuff made it all the way to the bone?!"

Scully just nodded looking somewhat sad, "I hope she was dead before it happened. I cannot imagine that kind of pain."

"There were no other wounds that could indicate cause of death?"

"Nope. I am at a standstill till I get more tests and I can't just sit around so I am going to go assist in the lab."

"Sounds good. I'm going to narrow down these cases to people who could hate her enough to do this, then I think we should go pay some of them visits."

"Call me when your ready." She flashed a smile at him before she exited the room.

He paused for one moment and was taken in by her rare smile. She had been smiling a lot more lately and Mulder liked to give himself credit for that. He loved her smile. For a few seconds he let his mind drift to thoughts of Scully and he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life trying to make her smile.

His mind started to move on to places below her face and he shook his head to rid himself of the images that came to mind would distract him from the case.

Scully made her way to the lab and found that they were just as confused as her. It had been determined, however, that Mulder had been at least part right about the cosmetics.

They found many traces of corrosive acids in the make up. Immediately they called the FDA and informed they to pull all Bombe products from the shelves. They sent an assistant out to get any thing left of each type they had to test the make up and lotion Agent Wells had to what was in stores.

The results told them that while Bombe was not the best substance to be applying to your skin it could not have caused this sort of damage alone. Someone had tampered with Wells products specifically which signaled an attack of some kind.

This led Scully to call Skinner and tell him to officially rule the death a murder despite not fully understanding cause of death. She made a call to Mulder knowing he would be interested in the newest development.

"So it turns out you were partly right about the cosmetics." She said into the phone.

"The make up is the cause of her injuries or her death?" Scully heard him ask.

"Well the cause of death is still uncertain but we know that all of the lotion and make up that Wells used was tampered with. We bought all of the same kinds from the store she bought them at and all of the rest are fine. The FDA is still trying to decide if they want to go through with a recall of all products but I doubt they will."

"But still no cause of death?" Mulder asked already moving on.

"Not currently."

"Maybe she is not dead Scully. I mean in some stories it can take a living dead person at most a week to wake."

Scully sighed, "Wait, seriously? Mulder I did the autopsy she is dead."

"Scully the rules of reanimation remain true no matter how damaged the body is."

"Well she seems pretty dead to me. I highly doubt that she is going to wake up any time soon and find herself craving brains."

As she said this she noticed the odd looks the people around her gave and she turned her back to face the wall and lowered her voice, "Mulder tell me you don't believe in zombies. I just need to hear you say it."

"I don't believe in zombies… in the traditional sense at least."

Scully covered her forehead with her palm. She needed a drink.

"Well keep any zombie, back from the dead, reanimation theories just between us for now." She whispered.

"Yeah yeah yeah." Mulder said in an unconvincing tone.

Before Scully could respond a harsh voice behind her said, "Agent Scully."

She turned around to find herself face to face with Deputy Director Kersh.

 _Great this is exactly what we need right now._ She thought wondering how much of that conversation he'd heard and wishing she could turn invisible.

"Hello Sir what can I help you with?" She said politely trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

He said nothing but just glanced at her phone from which Mulder's muffled voice could be heard. She looked at it and said, "I'll call you back." Into the phone before hanging up.

"Agent Scully I was wondering if I could get an update on the case so far? I heard that you ruled it a murder." His face was unreadable.

"Yes sir the evidence is seeming to point that way."

"Seeming to point that way? Have you found cause of death?"

"Not quite yet. We are close thought we only need to break down and test the components of the-"

"So you are not actually sure that it was a murder?"

"Well sir from the beginning it seemed pretty obvious that we were dealing with a murder. Our tests of her own cosmetics against-"

"Yes I heard about all of the tests that are being preformed." He interrupted and Scully sent up a silent prayer thanking God that Mulder was not here to inflame the situation. "It seems to me agent that you have very little to go on right now. I have contacted the FDA and told them that their products are tainted. I hear that after testing a load of make up from stores in the area you informed them that recall was unnecessary?"

It felt like a trap but Scully responded, "The evidence is pointing toward someone tampering with her skin products and all of the others that were tested came up normal. It seems more like a personal attack rather than a contamination of all goods. There have been no more reports of anything like this."

"Many others are saying that it is the exact opposite Agent Scully, I am being told that this may be a simple case of product contamination. The brand is being recalled. You and Agent Mulder seem to be the only ones who want to continue to peruse this."

"Sir I was informed that it was you who wanted us on the case in the first place! And who are all these people that believe this to be an accident? These injuries may even be post-mortem."

"First of all it was only at the insistence of A.D. Skinner that I allowed you and Mulder on the case." He sighed a long suffering sigh as if he was trying to explain something to a child, "Agent Scully this is delicate case and it is obvious that you and Agent Mulder are incapable of subtlety and tact. It was a mistake to put you on this. It will now be handed over to violent crimes. I expect the two of you to go back to your normal caseload."

"Why? So they can bury it? This woman was killed and no one cares! Is it because she was killed to keep her quiet? Is that it sir?" Scully knew exactly what was going on. It was all set up this way. She recalled Mulder telling her the reactions of other agents when hearing they were on the case. It was high profile in the Bureau and if they screwed the case up everyone would have even more reason to dismiss the X files. Kersh wanted them to take this case just so he could have others sabotage it and discredit them. It shouldn't have been such a surprise to her. She knew she should calm down but couldn't, "And what is our 'normal caseload' exactly? I am not sure since it seems like most cases we bring forth these days are buried."

"That is enough Agent! You have been in that basement for far too long. There is no conspiracy. A fellow agent is dead, that is the focus, and we will do everything in our power to ensure that the investigation is clean and thorough."

Scully nodded without making eye contact deciding to stop speaking before she got in more trouble. He gave one swift nod and walked away.

She knew that she and Mulder were not done with this case. There was a reason they were on this case. The fact that the FBI was attempting to cover up the case made it feel more important to her to find out the truth of what happened to Agent Wells.


	11. Suspects

Disclaimer: If I had one wish it would be to own the X Files but alas I do not.

Suspects

Mulder and Scully were on their way to interview possible suspects but had decided to first stop at Agent Wells apartment. Mulder had cherry picked cases that involved various suspects and had given them to Scully to read in the car.

Scully had informed Mulder of her conversation with the Deputy Director and he reacted exactly how she expected, with righteous anger and then an insistence that they continue what they were doing.

He had been slightly surprised when his petite partner had agreed with him but was too riled up to wonder about it.

Scully had surprised herself by going along so easily. This case was bothering her. Whenever she thought of Agent Wells she felt a sense of pity. Based on everything she had seen and heard the woman seemed to live a sad life. Scully had heard the other agents talking about her and despite many trying to sound sorry about her death they all were not too sad to see her go. Most of the talk sounded more like gossip than grieving.

Except for her partner that is. Agent Thornton was beside herself with grief and full of dramatics. Although most of the dramatics seemed to garner attention rather than true grief. Scully had never met Agent Wells when she was alive and had never met her partner until this case but she was curious about the dynamic of their partnership.

Scully had always been unemotional and strait forward so dealing with a woman so filled with over the top shows of sadness caused her slight irritation. It also made her wonder more about Gina Thornton herself and her relationship with her partner. The woman had, of course, claimed the two were close and never fought and did the whole song and dance about what a saint Traci was but to Scully it all felt so put on.

She had not shared these thoughts with Mulder yet knowing that he was forming his own theories. At the end of the day they would recap and go over all scenarios.

Scully looked again at the files in her lap and tried to flip through them again but still came up with nothing that helped her. She kept getting stuck looking at the picture of Agent Wells that was paper clipped to the top file.

"Mulder, what do we know about Agent Thornton?" Scully asked.

Mulder, of course, had been stuck in his own thoughts about the case and was confused by the question. "I haven't looked into her too much yet. Why?"

"I don't know. A hunch I guess. I think she knows more than she is saying. I don't know it could be nothing…"

"Well she was much more social than her partner. Wells would spend most of her time with her current flame or sit around pining for him while Thornton would be out having drinks with co-workers."

"Is she in a serious relationship?"

"I don't know. Her information is in the box in the back somewhere if you want it."

Scully turned and spotted the box along with all of the other things they had tossed haphazardly into the backseat.

Scully turned around in her seat and leaned far into the backseat.

"Woah! Scully! A little warning would be nice!" Mulder said startled by her sudden movement. Usually he would be the one preforming shotgun acrobatics on a hunch. He was slightly concerned about his partner and curious about why this case was having such an affect on her.

She heaved the box with her back to the front seat and sat it on her lap. Scully proceeded to flip through the files looking for the right one.

Finding the personnel file on Agent Thornton she opened it up and began reading. Thornton was 33, unmarried, with no children. She came from a large family and grew up in a nice small town in South Carolina. The file did not give much information, which disappointed Scully. What she really wanted was personal information that would not be in this file.

She sighed.

"What are you looking for Scully?" Mulder asked upon hearing her sigh.

"I don't know. More personal stuff I guess about her relationships and her life."

"Well we can get more on that later by talking to co-workers and friends."

"Agent Wells had a habit of sleeping with men who were taken what if one of those men was dating her partner?"

"That would be a good reason to be pissed at somebody."

"Mulder, why did Traci feel the need to be with married men? Why not find men who are free? I'm sure she had offers but I don't think she was interested in any single men."

"Well she had low self-esteem. Being able to steal away men from other women gave her a sense of control of superiority. It made her feel better about herself. She grew up rich but went to a boarding school most of her life, her mom died when she was young. Probably a screwed up relationship with her father."

Scully didn't respond but just looked out the window again wondering about the woman who caused so much pain to herself and others.

"What is it about this woman that is bothering you?" Mulder asked.

"I don't know. She just seems so sad."

"We've had sadder cases."

"Yeah I guess. She just tried so hard to make these connections but always in the wrong places. She always ended up alone."

"I can tell you she probably has a lot of women who would love to see her dead."

"True. Sometimes I think of how much every moment causes a chain reaction. What happened to her that made her live like this? What was she looking for?"

"How 'bout we find out." He said as he pulled into the driveway of a estate that held acres of land and a large white mansion.

The estate of Richard Lander was huge despite the fact that he'd spent the better part of the last five years in prison for blackmail, extortion, forgery, and currency schemes.

Agent Wells had played a significant role in bringing him to justice. His case was one of the first of her career in White-collar crimes. Lander was a man with many resources he no doubt could have access to whatever it was that killed Traci Wells.

The stop however did not yield anything of use. Mulder and Scully were both uninterested anyways. Mulder had a feeling it was something bigger but Scully had a feeling it was something less obvious.

The next few names on the list were pretty useless as well. They had been driving around and interviewing for ten hours by the time Scully finally told Mulder she'd had enough for the day. She wanted to eat, shower, and sleep for days.

"Won't it be better if we start fresh tomorrow with new eyes? We've been in the car all day and have found nothing." She said as she rubbed her forehead in an attempt to get rid of her never-ending headache.

"We still have a couple names left." He responded not moving his eyes from the road.

"Yes and doing both tonight will take another five hours."

Mulder thought it over and glanced at his partner who he could tell was exhausted, "Alright but you owe me."

Scully looked at him flatly, "We'll see."

Mulder drove to Scully's apartment as directed and tried to ignore the impulse to follow her up knowing she would tell him to go. He was pretty sure he could convince her otherwise but also didn't want to deal with her wrath when she was fully rested.

"Thank you." She smiled at him and took his hand and squeezed. She got her bag from the back of the car and went inside.

He watched her go with a sigh.  
Mulder had known that sleeping with Scully would make things more complicated but he had not anticipated how much stronger the urge to be with her always would be.

For years Mulder had wanted to spend every minute with Scully but it was different now. Now the visions in his imagination and dreams were real. The stakes also felt higher there was a sense of irrational panic that he would feel watching her walk away. There had been times when they'd parted and everything seemed fine only to have one or both of them separated and in danger.

One important reason it had taken so long for them to move to this phase was how much harder it would make losing the other. It added a whole new dimension to that potential loss. As if losing Scully would not be painful enough before.

He put the car in drive and headed back to his own apartment knowing it would be a mostly sleepless night.

In the morning the agents made their way to their basement office separately. Scully walked in to find coffee and a danish sitting on the desk and her dashing partner leaning on it reading an open file.

"Hey! So I found out a bit more last night about Gina Thornton…" He turned to start shuffling through papers.

"Mulder, did you sleep at all?" Scully asked.

"Very little. She has siblings all over but one sister is living right here in D.C. based on phone records they seem close."

Scully took a sip of her coffee, "I assume you got a warrant for those records.", she said eye brow raised in question.

"She made these calls in the office, free game. I think that I can finish talking to the two suspects we didn't get to last night and you can go see her sister."

She lowered the papers from his face, "That sounds fine. Thank you for the coffee and breakfast."

"Kind of a lame thank you." Mulder said with a raised eye brow.

Scully looked around as if they were being watched and it made Mulder give a small smile. She leaned in to give him a small kiss but pulled away before he could get ahold of her.

She smiled at him coyly, "Nice try."

"Worth it. Finish up your breakfast we got a case to solve!" He said with renewed energy practically jumping off the desk and toward the door. Scully smiled, shook her head, and followed.

Layla Breys was the sister of Gina Thornton. She was 35, married, with three children. She was a short round pleasant woman who smiled and let Scully in the door.  
"Would you like anything to drink Agent Scully?" She offered and gestured toward the couch where Dana took her seat.

"No, thank you."

Layla took a seat opposite her and asked, "So what can I do for you? Does this have to do with Traci? Gina has been a mess over what happened."

"Yes I just have some routine questions about your sister."

"Oh, um, sure. But why?"

"We are interviewing the families of all those close to her. Since it is about the death of one of our own we are going the extra mile." It was a small lie.

"Of course. Anything I can do to help."

"When was the last time you saw your sister before Traci's death?"

"Hummm…. I saw her last Wednesday. We went out to lunch."

"Was there anything strange about her behavior? Or did she indicate that anything was wrong?"

"No she was normal… Well she was having man troubles but who isn't?"

Scully smiled slightly at the woman, "She was seeing someone?"

"Yes an older man I think. She was expecting a ring but instead he broke up with her."

"Do you know the man's name?"

"Ummm… Frank. His last name was something rich sounding I remember teasing her about being a gold digger…. Maxwell! Frank Maxwell!"

Scully wrote down the name, "Thank you. Do you know why he broke it off?"

"No, Gina didn't really want to talk about it. She will get around to telling me eventually after some time passes."

"Do you remember the last time you saw Traci?"

"I don't know the exact date but a couple weeks ago I went to their office to visit Gina over her lunch."

"And she seemed fine to you?"

"Yeah she was fine, acting normal."

"What was your sisters relationship like with her partner?"

"They were friends but not very close outside of work. Gina is a social butterfly, always out on the town. That wasn't really Traci's style."

"Do you know of any problems they had?"

"No they seemed to get along fine. There would be days where Gina would be frustrated with her professionally but that was always having to do with differences of opinion about work."

"Well thank you very much Mrs. Breys. I will call you if I have any more questions." Scully said as she stood.

As soon as she was out the door she pulled out her cell.

"Mulder." The familiar voice said across the line.

"Mulder, it's me. I got some information from the sister: She said that a few days before the Traci's death Gina's boyfriend broke up with her. Her sister didn't seem to know why and if she did she didn't say. What is the name of the last suspect on your list?"

"Frank Maxwell."

"That's the man Gina was seeing! I thought it sounded familiar."

"I just got done with the second to last guy on the list. He's been out of the country at some Tibetan rehab thing so he's clear. I was just about to head to Maxwell's. Want to come with?"

"Yeah. How far are you from the office?"

"About an hour."

"Alright I will grab us some lunch on my way back and you can pick me up."

"Sounds good. See you soon babe."

The line went dead and Mulder laughed to himself as he pictured his partner's eye roll.


	12. Twists

Disclaimer: I do not own the X Files or Mulder and Scully.

Twists

The elevator doors opened and Mulder made his way to his office. Scully stood with her back to the door engrossed in what she was reading.

He considered his options. He could sneak up on her, which he always found funny, but if she got mad about it now that could mean a night alone. Perhaps he could sneak up in a cute or romantic way but considered her frustration at his affections in the office.

He sighed internally and decided not to play games with her for now.

"Mulder I know you are there so don't bother trying to startle me." Scully said not lifting her head.

He chuckled, "Scully you wound me! I would never!" He held his hand over his chest pretending to be hurt.

She looked up at him, "I thought you were going to call me when you got close and just pick me up?"

"I didn't want to eat and drive."

She handed him the bag that contained the food and he quickly pulled out a burger.

"Whatcha looking at?" He asked, mouth full.

"The file on Frank Maxwell. I was just catching up."

"So you think he might be involved?"

"Well…. I don't know if he killed her but there was something weird about the way the sister talked about him. And the fact that the Gina was sleeping with a guy they put in prison is notable."

"But you're not convinced."

"Well I got her laptop from evidence. I looked at it a little but there didn't seem to be anything of interest except a hidden document. It's not labeled and when I tried to open it, it asked for a password." She had opened the bulky laptop and showed her findings to Mulder.

"We can get the guys to see if they can open it."

Scully sighed.

"They are on our way to Maxwell's house we can just drop it off."

"We could just look for the password."

"That could take forever. They can get this open quicker. You pretend like you don't like them but I know you do."

"I like them in small doses."

Mulder laughed and stole a fry from her.

"Hey! You have your own!"

Mulder shrugged, "I finished them."

The lone gunmen were having a lazy day and were excited to get the call from Mulder saying he and his partner would be stopping by.

Frohike shot up after they hung up and ran to take a shower to make himself more presentable for Agent Scully.

By the time the agents had arrived Frohike had combed his hair back nicely while the other two flung friendly jabs his way.

"Ah welcome agents. Agent Scully may I take your coat?" Frohike half bowed as Mulder ignored him and walked past him with a small smile.

Scully rolled her eyes, "No I am keeping it on."

Mulder set the laptop up for the guys to see. Scully drowned out their technical talk as she scanned some of the headlines, which always gave her a smile and a silent laugh.

"Thanks guys I'll stop by later tonight." Mulder said.

Scully nodded to the gunmen and Mulder led her out with a hand on the small of her back.

Frank Maxwell's home was large but smaller than some of the homes they had seen the day before.

He owned a chain of factories that put together textbooks and other academic works which is how he made the legitimate part of his fortune.

Frank Maxwell had been convicted on charges of insider trading along with a laundry list of smaller charges. He did three months in a minimum-security prison and then had community service and three years parole.

"This guy is everything that is wrong with the world." Mulder said as they walked to the door.

The door opened to reveal a housekeeper.

"Hello, I'm Agent Mulder, this is Agent Scully, and we're here to see Frank Maxwell." Mulder said as he held up his badge.

The woman opened the door wider to let them in and then said, "Wait here for a moment."

They looked around at the foyer. It was your typical rich person foyer, gold plating on everything and a lot of mirrors. The celling was high and the staircase was wide leading up to an open second floor.

"Geez. Crime pays." Mulder mumbled as he turned in a circle and let out a small whistle.

"Hello agents." A tall well dress man entered the room, "Frank Maxwell. What can I do for you?" He held out his hand to both of them in greeting.

"Well Mr. Maxwell Agent Traci Maxwell was found dead under suspicious circumstances and we just have some questions about your relationship with her and her partner." Scully said.

"Well first please call me Frank." He said kissing her hand which Scully quickly pulled away. He brushed it off and continued, "And I did hear about Agent Wells. So sad. I would not say we had any sort of relationship except that of a law enforcement officer and suspect."

"And your relationship with her partner?"

"Ahhhh I see. Yes, Agent Thornton and I have had a romantic interlude but that did not have anything to do with her partner. As far as I know her partner was not aware of our, well, relationship."  
"Did you ever interlude with Traci?" Mulder asked trying to mask his irritation.

"No sir. Traci did not think very highly of me I am afraid."

"Why is that?"

"To be quite honest I come off as quite the flirt sometimes." Maxwell moved a bit closer to Scully.

"You don't say." Mulder said as Scully scooted away from the shameless suspect.

He laughed, "Well I found Traci to be a very beautiful woman and I told her so. She did not like it very much."

"You harassed her?" Scully asked with crossed arms.

"No! Of course not. I am a flirt but I am a gentleman as well."

Scully rolled her eyes.

"When was the last time you saw Agent Wells?" Mulder asked.

"Oh I don't even remember it was so long ago."

"When was the last time you saw Agent Thornton then?"

"Well it has been a while. Not sure I remember."

"Really? Her sister said just last week."

"Oh yes! Yes, I forgot. We did go out last week. But I let her know that it was our last time."

"You going the strait and narrow then?"

"Agent, I have never left the strait and arrow. To you it looks like I am cheating but in reality my wife and I have an arrangement. I don't bother her, and she doesn't bother me."

"How romantic. I wonder if I took a random poll of cheating husbands, how many of them would say something like that?" Mulder wondered sarcastically.

"Feel free to ask my wife. Did you come here just to look down from your high horse? If you don't have anymore questions then I would like to get back to my day."

Mulder pulled out the picture of Agent Wells' body, "Do you know of anything that could do this to a person?"

Maxwell didn't seem too perturbed by the photo as he eyed it, "Is this necessary Agent? And no. Do I look like a chemist to you?"

Scully put her hand on Mulders arm and turned to Maxwell, "Thank you for your time. I'm sure we will see you again."

"I hope so." Frank said with raised eyebrows.

Mulder and Scully stopped by to see the Lone Gunmen to see what they found. Traffic on the way there left them sitting in the car for an extra hour and it was dark by the time they reached their friends.

Byers pulled out the laptop and opened it up to show the agents.

"It appears that she was doing more than just her normal caseload." Byers pulled up some documents on the computer, "She was keeping a journal that describes corruption in her department. I haven't read all of it but it seems like her boss was on the take."

"Wait, she was working on this on her own?" Scully said taking the laptop to go through Traci's journal.

"It appears so. There is still some encrypted material that we have to sort through though."

"Was she working alone?" Mulder asked as he leaned over Scully's shoulder to see the screen.

"Hard to say yet. Was she good with computers?"

"No one has said that about her. We have found nothing besides this to indicate that she was." Scully answered.

"So how long do you think it will take you guys to get the rest of the info?" Mulder asked.

"A few more hours. You might want to come by in the morning." Langley said.

"The morning?" Mulder gave a small whine.

"Mulder it's getting pretty late. We were in the car for so long and I am getting pretty hungry." Scully said.

"Ok. First thing then. Thanks guys."

"He knows something but I don't think he did it." Scully said as they sat on Mulder's old leather couch reviewing the day, which had not yielded much except more confusing twists to the case. "I mean whistle blowing within the FBI is much more dangerous than torrid affairs and jealous wives."

Scully pulled out a folder from under a pile. It was a picture of a vent in the bathroom. On it was a thick green residue, a detail they had missed when they were at the scene.  
"Mulder, look at this." She showed him the photo, "Did you see this? Did they take a sample?"

"I think I saw something about that…"

Mulder started to shuffle through a stack of papers.

"Ah-ha." He pulled one out from the bottom of the pile.

He handed it to Scully who read off some of the results, "Sulfur, Ammonia, phosphorus, multiple kinds of organic compounds that can be found in nerve gas, and a bunch of other poisonous gasses that will do serious damage to a person. Poison gasses… but all of these compounds are from different kinds of gasses… I have no idea what this is."

"It must have been released through the air ducts. These would have killed her?"

"It depends on how much she was exposed to and for how long. They certainly could not have caused the level of damage we have seen."

"Could it have reacted with the make up to do this to her?"

"I don't know… Maybe. We would have to see an expert. There is so much in here I can't imagine how it would all react."

Mulder checked his watch, "I guess it is too late to call for an expert?"

Scully laughed, "Yes Mulder, it is."

Scully began to stack the papers up making it known that she was getting her things to leave.

"Oh come on Scully it's the middle of the night and you're already here."

"Mulder… It is a slippery slope if we start spending the night together during cases we will end up spending nights on the road together and nothing will ever get done."

"That doesn't sound so bad to me." Mulder scooted closer to her and Scully scooted further away, "We spend pretty much all our time together anyway."

"Mulder…" Scully got up to get her things.

"Oh come on Scully! We don't have to have sex you can just sleep here."

Scully sighed and looked at her watch again. She looked up at Mulder who was still sitting on the couch trying to look innocent.

"Fine. But you have to behave."

"Scouts honor."

They curled up on his bed and were fast asleep within minutes.


	13. Undercover

Disclaimer: I do not own the X Files

Note: For some reason I am struggling to figure out where to go next right now. So weird but no fear I am not giving up! I still have many ideas I just need to get in the right place to move on from here. Any ideas or critiques would be great! It's not the best chapter but I hope you enjoy it!

Undercover

The first thing the agents did in the morning after getting ready was heading over to see the Lone Gunmen.

Sleep had come easy for both of them as it had since they had started sleeping together. Both had been haunted by nightmares for years.

Scully had nightmares of running to save her sister in time and always getting there late. Sometimes she would imagine herself lying in a hospital bed surrounded by Mulder and her family slowly and painfully dying. Occasionally a different group would surround the hospital bed. The Smoking Man would be next to her leering down, next to him would be Diana smiling and taking notes, the others were aliens that watched without expression.

Mulder's nightmares were almost always about Scully. The worst one was him not getting there in time to stop Padgett's invisible henchmen from removing Scully's heart. He would sit there covered in blood crying over her lifeless form. If they were not about Scully they were about his sister. The dreams of Samantha had lessened since he discovered her fate. Now he would even have happy dreams of her in the starlight.

Scully, though, was his protector. She saved him from these nightmares and if he found himself waking in the night he would only need to reach out for her or listen for her breathing to know everything was all right.

He looked over at her for a moment as they reached a stoplight. She was looking out her window deep in thought till she sensed him looking at her.

"What?" She asked.

"Just taking in the view." Mulder said suggestively.

Scully softly hit his arm and pointed ahead, "Lights green casanova."

Before he turned his eyes back to the road he was rewarded with a stunning smile from his partner.

The Lone Gunmen were on top of things, as usual. When the agents arrived they began to explain their findings.

"It looks like your victim may not have been as air headed as she first seems." Langley started.

"You said she was stuffin' the muffin' with her boss right?" Frohike said indelicately, "Well it looks like that was not simply for pleasure."

He moved the laptop to show them what appeared to be a log. Each entry was dated and held information about people in her department.

"Holy crap." Mulder said softly.

"She was undercover with internal affairs…" Scully said once again feeling the pang in her heart for the woman.

"Well this just made everything a million times more complicated. Do you think Skinner would know about this?"

"Probably not. But Kersh might have and he took us off the case."

"Maybe they don't want to know if it was someone on the inside. That would look pretty bad. Especially if she were killed while investigating her co-workers and boss."

"We also found encrypted emails from a guy named Frank Maxwell." Byers showed them.

Mulder and Scully turned to each other and then to the computer. After reading some of the correspondents they knew where they needed to go.

They thanked the Gunmen and moved quickly to the car as Scully dialed the number for Maxwell.

"Nothing." She said as she put in another number.

She wanted to call Skinner to see if he knew about Traci Wells.  
"Skinner." The curt voice came across Scully's phone.

"Sir, Mulder and I have found some very interesting information regarding the Traci Wells case and we wanted to know if-"

"Agent were you not told to leave the case alone?"

"Yes sir but we could tell they were hiding something. They know something that will embarrasses the Bureau and they don't want it to get out."  
"It doesn't matter either way. You and Agent Mulder were taken off the case."

"Sir! We can't leave this alone! A fellow agent died!"

She heard him sigh a sigh that was saved especially for his two most frustrating agents, "Listen, I don't know a lot about this but I know that you could be on dangerous ground. Do what you need to do but don't call me about it."

"Sir!" She was met with a dial tone, "He hung up."

"He seem to know anything?" Mulder asked.

"No I think he is as in the dark as we are, which is bad news for us. He doesn't want to get involved."

"Surprise, surprise."

"If he can have deniability then we can keep searching."

They pulled up to the house of Frank Maxwell for the second time in two days. After ringing the doorbell a few times and knocking they upholstered their guns. Mulder nodded to Scully who nodded back right before he kicked down the door.

The house was oddly quiet.

They held their guns at their sides protectively as they searched each room. They found nothing until they entered the kitchen. There on the floor lay the woman who had answered the door for them the day before.

She was in the same condition as Agent Wells was when she was found but it appeared that the housekeeper suffered even worse damage.  
"Dammit." Mulder said as he hit his fist on the counter.  
Scully crouched down next to the body to feel for a pulse out of habit even thought she knew it was pointless.

"We need to find Maxwell." She whispered.

They began to move toward the stairs when they heard a commotion from the backyard. They ran toward the backyard and into a guesthouse in the back.

The door to the shed was wide open. Mulder peered in and saw a pair of feet sticking out from behind a shelf.

"It's clear." He sighed.

They moved quickly to the form of Frank Maxwell who was in the same shape but looked to be alive, barely.

His face was nearly gone and the only sign that he was alive was the slight movements in his arms and legs. Next to his arm was a stack of books that appeared to be knocked down by a stray movement in his arm, which had caused the noise.  
Scully jumped on her cellphone to call for an ambulance and Mulder leaned down next to Maxwell to see if he could get any response.

"Ambulance is on its way." Scully said.

"I don't think it will do any good."

"Apparently Mrs. Maxwell is out of town till the end of the week. We have tried her a few times but her sister said she is at some sort of spa and might not have access to phones." Scully informed her partner who was currently checking the vents. "Are you finding anything?" She asked.

"Yeah. I put the grate on the floor next to me." He responded without looking up from his examination.

Scully slapped on some gloves and bent down to take a look at the body on the floor. By the time the paramedics arrived Frank Maxwell was dead and the agents had already began their study of the home. Scully crouched down next to the body that looked grimly familiar. The odd thing was that both Frank Maxwell and his housekeeper had wounds that were even more gruesome upon first sight. Scully pulled up his pant leg and shirt sleeve to see if his arms or legs were affected but both seemed fine as was the same with the housekeeper. It looked like the only part of the body affected by the acid this time was the face but she would not know for sure until she preformed an autopsy.

"Ah hah!" Mulder shouted from across the room. He was checking out the third vent.

"Did you find something?" Scully asked as she walked toward him.

"Yep. One second." His arm stretched out in the vent all the way and he finally pulled his arm out and showed Scully the glob of green goop that he had gathered from inside of the vent. Scully pulled out a napkin and an evidence bag and collected the evidence.  
"How much is in there?" She asked.

Mulder shined the flashlight in the vent, "There is a small spot of it. I got most of it. Have they found any of the cosmetics here that were found in Traci Wells' room?"  
"Not that I have heard, they know to be looking."

A woman from the coroner's office came up to them, "Can we remove the bodies?"

"Yes we are done with them here." Scully was about to continue with instructions when a sharp voice broke through the room.

"Agents. I specifically remember taking you off the case yet here you are." Kersh said as he approached them.

"Oh, this is related to that case? Huh. We just thought this looked like an X File what a weird coincidence…" Mulder said sarcastically feigning innocence.

Kersh ignored Mulder and continued on, "This is no longer your case. You are dismissed." He pointed toward the door and the agents decided to leave without any more argument.

"One more thing: Agent Scully don't even think about going near those bodies. If I find out the two of you tried to insert yourselves you will be buried in paperwork for the next two months." Kersh added.

Scully rolled her eyes as she turned back around, "We are goanna find a way to see those bodies right?" She asked Mulder quietly as they neared the car.

"Why Agent Scully I can't believe you would ever suggest such a thing. I have a mind to tell the Deputy Director!" Mulder said mockingly with a wink. Scully smirked and they started on their way back to the basement office to hatch a plan about how to proceed.


	14. Everything

Disclaimer: I do not own the X Files.

Note: Made a snap decision while on vacation! Enjoy please review!

Everything

Two shadowed figures watched as the body of an unnamed homeless man dissolved on the floor in front of them. They stood at a safe distance wearing protective gear and gas masks taking notes.

The results of the most recent experiment had yielded the most success. The last few subjects dissolved in record time.

All that was left of the unknown man was a green puddle on the floor that would soon lose its color and evaporate.

"The final step will be ready soon." One of the observers said in a voice muffled by the mask.

"I got a tip from our man at the FBI, it seems that there are a couple of agents asking questions." The other said.

"Well keep an eye on them then. Do your job if they get too close, you know what to do." A third shadowed figure emerged, face illuminated only by the glow of his cigarette.

Mulder threw his head down on his desk and threw his hands in the air, "There are no correspondents between them Scully! No connection. I get it I get hunches all the time but maybe it is time to look elsewhere."

"Feel free Mulder. I just feel like I am missing something…" Scully responded from the couch.

"What were you able to get from the crime scene before we were kicked out?"

"Not much." She thought for a moment with her eyes closed and tried to picture the scene.

In her mind she pictured Maxwell's study. It was overly ambitious with walls that were lined with bookcases that were filled with books he had never read and never would. The desk was large and covered with work related paperwork… Scully remembered something catching her eye.  
"On the desk in his study there was a trashy novel! It was under some papers but it looked well read and I thought it was odd."

"Have an eye for trashy novels Scully?" Mulder said with a raised eyebrow and then continued after seeing her disapproving raised eyebrow, "Maybe we can cash in a couple favors and get our hands on it."

Scully gave a small snort. "I'm pretty sure we owe more favors than anyone else."

Mulder leaned back in his chair for a moment and then got up slowly moving toward her, "Well either way I'm sure we could get our hands on it somehow and since we are no longer 'officially' on the case I think you should stay the night." He moved so that he was leaning over her with his hands on either side of her head on the couch, "And don't act scandalized Scully I know you have a change of clothes with you."

In general Scully tried to not show too much excitement with Mulder as he was plenty good at generating it himself but she did like his idea.

She gave a small smile, "You do make a good point…" She glanced over at her work and a part of her wanted to keep working. That thought flew out of her mind when Mulder's lips met her neck making her jump slightly.

 _Its still early there will be time later._ Scully thought as she met Mulder's kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Dana woke later that night to a dream:

 _Scully was sitting at her desk in the basement office staring strait ahead when she heard a voice surround her._

 _"Agent Scully I need you to help me. You need to stop them. You might be the only one who can. Get the book that you saw and get it quick, before they destroy it. That will hold some of the answers."_

 _The voice began to sound strained, "Be careful."_

 _"Who are you?" Scully asked as she got up from the desk looking around._

 _"You know who I am."_

She awoke in a cold sweat and sat up strait. She felt in a panic to get to the book. She had never met Traci Wells but she knew that the voice in the dream was hers. Scully was in too much confusion to begin to doubt her dream and she took deep breaths until she was broken out of her trance by Mulder's hand that he placed on her forearm.

"What time is it?" She asked not sure if he had spoken to her yet. He looked tiredly next to the bed, "About 3am." Mulder's tired voice croaked out.

"We need to get that book. Now." Scully said as she got out of bed and started to look for her clothes.

Mulder didn't move, "Did you hear me say that it is 3am? What's wrong?" She kept up her search, "Scully, what's wrong?"

She looked up at him, "They are going to destroy the evidence if we don't get to it first."

"How do you know that?"

She looked down for a second knowing that the words would sound crazy coming out of her mouth, "I had a dream. Traci Wells told me that if we didn't get to it now it would be destroyed." She knew that she was speaking to the right audience but still found a hit of embarrassment creeping into her voice.

Mulder paused, "And you believed it?"

"I am not saying it was Agent Wells from beyond the grave but it might be my subconscious warning me. I just know we need to get our hands on that book."

"Ok." Mulder said still thrown off but trusting his usually skeptical partner.

They moved quietly through the abandoned FBI headquarters toward the evidence locker. At nearly four in the morning there were still a few Agents who were in their offices working on time sensitive cases but most everyone was gone. They knew that there would be a guard at the evidence locker but they would need to deal with that when the time came.

Meanwhile they were trying not to be seen. Each footstep sounded like a cannon and lasted for years. They knew that the cameras would be watching and that surly the people involved were keeping tabs on them. Mulder had been careful to watch out for a tail on their way but they were never quite sure if they were completely alone.

The security guard at the evidence locker was napping when they came in which seemed to Mulder like fate. The looked at each other quietly wondering if they should go for it or not.

Finally Mulder delicately grabbed the keys to open the caged entrance. He glanced back at Scully who stood at the counter acting like she had been waiting there. He slowly unlocked the door and then put the keys back next to the sleeping guard and ventured in. Scully watched the guard closely and as soon as the gate made the closing sound she tapped the guards arm.

Mulder searched quietly as Scully distracted the guard pretending to forget the case number for the evidence she wanted. When Mulder motioned to her that he had found what they were looking for she referenced an old case of theirs and asked to go back and look for some arbitrary piece of evidence. Mulder hid as Scully and the guard entered and once they passed he went quickly through the door, which Scully had left open behind them. He went quickly to the car to wait for her.

Scully stood with the guard and examined the old watch from a case that she couldn't even remember pretending to look for something.

"Nope, this isn't it. Sorry to wake you!" She said trying to sound genuine.

The guard just grunted in response and walked her out. She left with a small smile on her face until she got to the car where she saw an open passenger car door and no Mulder.

Her heart stopped and she ran over to the car to see if there was anything that would lead her to him.

Sure enough there was a note:

 **Agent Mulder will be returned if you dump what you have on the case. If not you will never see him again.**

A couple feet away from the car she saw a cigarette.

Her heart lurched and she felt tears prickling her eyes but she knew not to show emotion because they were surely watching. She got into her car to drive back to Mulder's apartment and spent the whole ride tying to think of a plan.

By the time she got to Mulder's apartment she still didn't know what to do. If she was truly dealing with the Smoking Man there was no guarantee that she would get Mulder back even if she handed over their information on the crime. She sat on the couch and looked over what they had gathered. She wondered why they had not just broken in and taken it.

 _Because it would not have scared us as much._

With him it was always about the psychological as much as it was about the end goal.

She looked around and knew that she would end up turning over the evidence. Mulder would have thought of something much better but she was overcome with fear. She had known that getting involved would cloud her judgment and it already was.

Scully felt his absence like a missing limb and worried that if she didn't give in they would hurt him.

She sighed into her hands and began to collect the scattered documents on the coffee table.

She walked over to the window and held up what she had collected.

Seconds later the phone rang.

"I'm glad you decided to play ball. You should know that if you do not give us everything you have, we will know." It was a voice that Scully did not recognize. The man on the other end told her to go to an address that she didn't recognize. She wrote down the directions quickly, gathered her things, and left.

The drive to the mysterious location was tense. Scully continued to question herself the entire way. She knew that she wanted to see Mulder before anything was exchanged.

She had the disadvantage, however, as they knew she was desperate to get him back.

She wished that they had gotten a look at the book before he had been taken. She considered that maybe Mulder had gotten a look and prayed that he would not be mad.

As she parked her car in the parking lot that was abandoned except for the one car parked across from her. She could only see the shadowy outline of a person in the two front seats. She took a deep breath and stepped outside the car holding a briefcase filled with all of the evidence that they had gathered for the case. She knew that Mulder would be mad that she had given in. She also felt guilt come over her knowing that she was failing Traci Wells.

 _Once I get Mulder back we WILL solve this. I promise._

She made the silent promise to whoever would listen hoping that they heard.

The doors to the other car opened and two men stepped out. She recognized the passenger as the Smoking Man, C.G.B. Spender. The driver was a face she didn't know, just one of the faceless henchmen that worked for him.

"Where's Mulder?" Scully asked forcefully in a tone that she hoped convey how serious she was.

"First the files." The unknown man said.

"No I see Mulder first or you get nothing."

Spender nodded his head as if he expected this response and the right backseat door opened. A man stepped out closed the door and rounded the car to the other door. He opened it and pulled out a tall figure that Scully recognized. She kept up her poker face up but inside she was shouting to him.

His frame came into the dim light and she could see that a bag was over his head and based on the mumbled noises coming from him she guessed there was a gag in his mouth.

The man holding on to him hit him roughly on the head with his gun and Scully let out a gasp. She couldn't understand what he was saying but she knew it must be something along the lines of: Don't do it.

She was going to do it anyways. She didn't trust the Smoking Man to not kill Mulder or worse.

"Let me see his face." Scully said trying to sound strong.

"Give us what we asked for." The man holding Mulder demanded.

They stood silent for a moment till the Smoking Man nodded his head at the man and he punched Mulder in the gut.

"Fine! Fine! Just bring him forward and we will make the trade at the same time. No weapons. I want everyone to have their hands in the air." Scully yelled.

Spender nodded to his people who all put their hands up except for the man holding Mulder who kept one hand on him.

Scully and the man stepped toward each other and with every step Scully felt the panic in her rise. Something wasn't right and she knew it. Soon they were face to face only a couple feet apart.

"I want to see his face before I hand this over." She took the chance again just in case and it paid off. The man huffed in frustration but pulled up the hood enough so she could see Mulder's black and blue face. He shook his head once at her but she ignored him, she had made her decision.

She took hold of Mulder's arm as he put one hand on the briefcase.

"If this is not everything… Well he will tell you what will happen." The man said and turned back to the car. She watched them all carefully until they all got into the car and drove away.

"Mulder…" Scully said softly as she took the gag out of his mouth.

She knew what he would say before he said it, "Scully! Why would you do that? There were other options!"

She just shook her head, "No Mulder there were not other options and no case is worth your life."

"People are dying!"

"Yes! And you would have died which would have made everything pointless. We can still figure this out."

It was his turn to shake his head, "Scully they put something in me, a virus of some kind. It will last for the next week, as far as I can tell, and then it will fade. It is insurance to make sure that you actually gave them everything."

"Then it's a good thing I did."

"Everything?" He sounded strained.

She nodded and put her hands on either side of his face, "We will wait until your system is cleared and then move forward. Till then we can work quietly and make it seem like we are working on other stuff. I need to get you to the hospital." Scully turned him around so that she could untie his hands.

He shook them to get the blood back pumping and then rubbed his hands around his wrist.

"I'm fine, just a little bruised." He said.

"Well if there really is a virus in you then I should check it out." She shook her head at him and ran her hands through his hair feeling for bumps.

"Fine but no emergency room."

"Deal."  
She pulled his forehead to hers for a moment before pulling him over to the passenger side of the car. She could tell that despite his best efforts to stay awake and aware, he was very out of it.

He sat down hard on the seat and looked up at her sadly, "I'm sorry you had to do that, I know this case is important to you."

She smiled at him and put a hand to his cheek, "You're more important."

She leaned down and gave him a soft quick kiss.

Scully moved to her side of the car and drove to the hospital.


	15. Injection Site

Disclaimer: I don't own Mulder, Scully, or the X Files

Injection Site

Mulder lay on the exam table while Scully moved around him checking his eyes, ears, and limbs. His mind was in a fog. He had only been with them for a couple hours but they had done some damage. He already knew that he had at least one broken rib and when Scully's small-gloved fingers probed gently on his chest he knew he must have two.

She would mutter things here and there but Mulder was past paying attention. He was trying to remember the little he had read from the book he had lifted from evidence.

The novel was _Steed in the Mist_ and on the cover was a picture of a bare chested man and a top-heavy woman on a horse. Mulder had chuckled to himself when he saw it. He had gone right from the evidence locker to the car to avoid running into anyone. He began to flip through the pages and found different words underlined and letters circled. It was some kind of code or a code breaker. Mulder noticed a couple pages near the end that were pasted together very carefully.

He picked at the corner for a moment until he heard a car entering the garage. He looked for Scully but didn't see her. He got a bad feeling as the headlights from the car swept across the car.

He ducked a bit and hid the novel under his seat. The footsteps sounded loud in the empty garage and Mulder began to slowly reach for his gun. In the mirror he saw the Smoking Man watching with a lit cigarette.

Mulder sighed and opened the door while keeping his gun out.

"What do you want?" He yelled across the space.

C.G.B Spender began to walk out of the shadows toward Mulder.

"Fox, it's nice to see you as well." He smiled a small smile and sucked in a breath of smoke.

"Well it is not mutual. I was hoping that you had found your way to your final resting place."

"That is not a very nice thing to say to your father. I came to give you a chance to stop working on the case you are currently handling. This case you are working on is stepping on the toes of some friends of mine. I tried to slow you down nicely by having it reassigned but I should have known that the two of you would not give up."

"Ah this is starting to make some sense now. You are partially responsible for whatever mixture it is that has killed those people."

"Well I am not personally involved, science was never my strong suit, I just help to facilitate."

"I should have known. This kind of evil has your fingerprints all over it."

"Fox I would love to chat but I am sure that your lovely partner is on her way over and I need the evidence the two of you just stole."

"Never." Mulder said as he pointed his gun at the old man.

"Well that seems a shame. I noticed a change in your partnership with Agent Scully as of late. It seems that the two of you have come to a new understanding. Young love is a beautiful thing and it would be a shame for it to end in tragedy."

Mulder tensed, "I've told you before what I would do to you if you hurt Scully. Those promises still stand."

"Oh I believe that." The Smoking Man said as a bag was pulled over Mulder's head.

C.G.B. Spender had laid out his plan for Mulder and seemed confident that Scully would meet his demands.

Mulder talked big and insisted that Scully would never give in but deep down knew that she would. He knew this because he would do the same thing; there was no way around it.

He just hoped that she would have a back up plan.

He heard them make the deal with her over the phone and began to beat himself up once again for letting himself get captured.

His eyes were covered the whole time so he didn't know who it was that injected him with the supposed virus but it hurt and he knew it would leave a mark.

"Listen carefully, what you've just been injected with is a version of what we have been using but instead of eating the body from the outside it will do it from the inside. But don't worry it is not activated, yet. It will be in your bloodstream for at least a week but after that it might not be worth the risk. If I were you I would stay away from this case." The Smoking Man spoke these words close to his ear and Mulder's mouth was covered before he could respond.

He was brought to the present by Scully discovering the injection point. Just the light touch of her fingers near the injection site hurt. He jumped as the pain brought him back to the present. There was a bandage covering it that now was stained with blood.

He opened his eyes to see Scully's concerned blue eyes, "Mulder is this where they injected you?"

Mulder just nodded and brought his hand up and squeezed the bridge of his nose; he needed sleep.

"Just let me examine it and we can go home." She said as she rummaged around.

Mulder's eyes opened a bit to look at her.

 _We can go home._

The thought of having her with him made him even more ready to leave and at the same time quieted down the simmering anxiety that had been rising in him.

She took a blood sample, took pictures of the injection site, and cleaned and bandaged it.

His arm was hurting from all of the movement near the wound. As if reading his mind Scully handed him a couple Advil and a glass of water as he sat up.

"I won't have the results till later tonight at the earliest. I'll take you home, you need to sleep."

"You do too."

"I'm not sure I can."

Scully lay still in the bed next to Mulder and anyone watching would have thought she was asleep but she couldn't sleep.

It was the middle of the day, which made it harder to sleep in the first place not counting all of the anxiety she was feeling over the current case.

Mulder's arms were wrapped around her waist and they held her tightly to him. She could feel his chest moving up and down slowly against her back and it reminded her that he was safe.

 _But is he really safe?_

She felt the fear come back and she tightened her own arms around his being careful to not hurt his wound.

She had no idea what the Smoking Man had injected him with and she wouldn't know for a while. He said that they had told him nothing would happen if they just dropped the case but they also revealed that it was still an experiment. They didn't really know what it would do to him. On top of that she knew that the Smoking Man was not someone who could be taken at his word, who knows if he was telling the truth.

She ran through scenarios in her head until she felt Mulder shift behind her, "I can feel you thinking."

Scully moved around in his arms so she could see his face.

He still looked so tired but he seemed to be ok. She moved her hands to his face to feel for any excess heat. He let her do her small exam with a smile on his face.

"I'm just worried about whatever they injected you with."

"I feel fine Scully."

"I know but that doesn't mean you are fine."

Mulder let out a puff of air, "He said that it wouldn't do anything unless we went after the case."

"I don't trust him."

"Me either, but so far nothing as happened and since you don't have the test results back yet there is nothing that can be done."

She moved in closer to him and laid her head against his chest as he rolled on to her back.

"Scully get some sleep and when you wake up we can figure out what to do next."


	16. Yep

Disclaimer: I don't own the X Files

Note: So I know nothing about computers and please take any errors with a grain of salt. It is science fiction anyways! Thanks! Also thank you to all of you who have reviewed. Reviews keep me going and keep me focused so if you are enjoying the story please just leave a small comment to let me know your reading. Hope you enjoy!

P.S. I still need a beta for this story so if the grammar bothers you PM me!

The week passed by slowly. The tests on Mulder's blood revealed no anomalies and this made Scully even more nervous than before.

She watched Mulder carefully and almost never left his side. They searched both their apartments for any bugs and then hunkered down in Mulder's apartment with notes written from memory about the case.

Both of them had taken a couple days off, since they never used their vacation days anyways, they had plenty. They planned to use their time off to work on the case in secret.

Scully was thanking God that Mulder had a photographic memory as she read over some of what they had previously collected. She wished that they still had the computer; they had not finished looking through all of her encrypted notes.

"Mulder, do you think the Gunmen kept a back up of the information they got for us on Agent Wells' computer?" She asked.

He looked up from the notes he was writing and answered, "I wouldn't put it past them. But I don't know if it is safe for us to visit them right now."

"Then how about I have them over? I mean it is not the first time that they have come to my place for dinner to work on a case so it would not be too strange. They could sneak in the information so it looks like they have nothing on them."

"Well I hope you are stocked up on cheap beer Scully."

Within the next couple hours Mulder had called the guys on a secure line to explain the plan to them and Scully had ordered some Mexican food and stopped to get some beer.

"Hey Scully we got twenty minutes to spare, whadda ya say?" Mulder said leaning against the counter wiggling his eyebrows at her.

A small smile played across her lips as she closed the oven that was keeping the food warm.

"I don't know Mulder do you really need twenty minutes?" She asked with a laugh in her voice.

Mulder laugh and trapped her against the counter, "Please I can rock your world in ten."

They began to kiss but were interrupted by the Gunmen's untimely entry.

The three men entered all discussing the pros and cons of buying new surveillance equipment for their lair.

"All I am saying is that there is no viable source that can tell us if we can trust this joker." Frohike said loudly.

Mulder and Scully flew apart looking awkward and flushed.

The Gunmen stopped in their tracks and looked at them for a second.

"So what's for dinner?" Frohike asked.

They ate in relative silence as the gunmen shoveled down their food. Scully began to gather the dishes and they got down to business.

"We were able to gather some of the data. Mostly it seems pretty boring and of no consequence but we did find one journal entry."

Langly turned the computer to Scully and Mulder. They read the text on the screen,

 _"Today I found something unexpected and terrifying. I have become worried for my life and wonder what will happen to me if they find out that I know. I followed Jerry tonight for a little while. He went to a strange brownstone in the capitol and went in. I watched as a number of mysterious men were dropped off in front of the building and entered. Many would glance around to see if they were being watched. I captured pictures of each man going in.  
I then turned on my listening equipment that I had planted in Jerry's briefcase. The men were discussing a new project that would revolutionize what they only referred to as their long term plans. _

_A new way to dispose of a body that would leave no trace. They discussed recent tests on vagrants that they were running. Apparently the tests were not going very well and while the formula would usually kill the men it would only leave them mangled. Some even survived the testing only to get a bullet in the head.  
By this point I was very disturbed but felt that I needed to continue to listen.  
They then asked Jerry about his plans to mask the funding going toward this project. His part seems to be keeping the FBI off these men's trail. He did not seem respected in the room but was more of a patsy. _

_Note: Check for blackmail information they may have on them._

 _None of the men's names were mentioned and…."_

The entry stopped there and the Agents just looked at the screen for a moment. The sadness came over Scully again as she thought of the bravery of this woman.

"Shit." Mulder said simply.

Scully, Mulder, and the Gunmen spent the next few hours trying to find information online that had to do with the different compounds found in the chemicals that destroyed the bodies.

They hacked into the accounts of many different government agencies and high profile companies but found nothing.  
Mulder knew that they would not find anything, these men were too good at what they did. The syndicate was not going to leave any tracks. Around eleven they gave up on their search. The Agents thanked the Gunmen for their help and the Gunmen promised future support if they were needed.

Mulder walked the guys out as Scully began to clean the mess that was her kitchen and living room.

"So are you and the lovely Agent Scully finally together?" Frohike asked with a slightly disappointed look on his face.

Mulder was unsuprised at his boldness, "You mean are we partners? Frohike we have been partners for years stop asking stupid questions." Mulder shook his head pretending to have no idea what he was talking about.

The three men all gave Mulder a withering look but said nothing until Mulder finally responded.

"Yes. Are you satisfied now? Can you leave me alone?"

Byers and Langly smiled knowingly and Frohike looked like someone stole his candy.

"Pay up gentlemen." Langly said holding out his hand.

The other two sighed and pulled money out of their wallets and placed it in his hand.

Mulder just shook his head, "Really?"

Frohike poked Mulders chest with his finger, "You hurt her and I'll hurt you."

Mulder took hold of Frohike's finger and pulled it away from his chest and gave a small laugh, "You idiots get out of here before I kick your asses."

When Mulder got back to Scully's apartment she looked up from the sink, "So did they see?"

"Yep."


End file.
